Infinite Swords
by DaGunth
Summary: Emiya Shirou can instantly understand any weapon he sees. An IS is most certainly a weapon. What will happen when the amateur mage is thrust into the futuristic world of the IS Academy?
1. Chapter 1

Okay, first things first. This is Shirou roughly half a year since the conclusion of the Fate route in the Grail War. He's become more proficient with his magecraft and has studied swordsmanship under Fuji-nee after realizing how vulnerable and weak he was during the war, but he's by no means a master swordsman or even a decent magus at this point. Reinforcement and Projection are still the only things he can do.

As for the crossover itself, I went with the tried and true "It was always there you just didn't see it" method. The IS were developed in the nasuverse but they were based entirely off technology and not magic, so none of the mages in the Grail War cared about them. In other words the two time lines were congruous but unaffected by each other.

Shirou's age is never specifically defined in Fate/Stay Night, partly because that would make him underage for the porn in the game and partly because nobody actually knows his real age. I arbitrarily decided he was 16 during the Grail War since he was a second-grade high school student which makes him 17 at the start of this crossover.

And lastly, I tied Shirou's life into the story in ways that don't really conflict with Nasu cannon. After all, Shirou lived in Japan his whole life, so it wouldn't be strange to have met and interacted with girls who also lived in Japan. It marginally conflicts with IS canon but not in terrible ways.

*start*

I sighed to myself when another clueless middle school kid wandered up to me. "You want the high school entrance exams, right?" I asked, already knowing the answer. The kid looked a little sheepish as he answered me. "This big building is really confusing. I don't know where anything is supposed to be..." He trailed off, looking around for some sort of sign to guide him. I gave him my best smile and said, "Don't worry. I'm here to help."

After guiding the lost boy to his room, I wandered the halls in search of other students. When my friend begged me to take his shift guiding people to their high school entrance exams I figured I'd just be standing at the entrance, pointing people the right way. What a joke! This place was massive and confusing and I still don't know how many entrances there are. I finally chose to just start roaming the hallways looking for people myself. There was no shortage of lost looking kids but at least I had a rough idea of the layout by now, so it only took me a few minutes to guide each one.

"Wait!" I yelled, running up to a bewildered young man. "That room you're about to go in- can't you see the 'do not enter' sign? What are you doing?" The boy had an athletic build but was obviously still in middle school, currently sporting a confused expression. "Ah, sorry. I got completely lost and just started opening doors. My name is Orimura Ichika. I'm trying to find room... 106?" His voice tilted up at the end, like he wasn't quite sure himself. Oh, good. That's on the other side of the building and his exam is scheduled to start soon, but we have just enough time to get him there.

"My name is Emiya Shirou," I responded, "and helping people is what I do. Let's get you to your exam." I smiled as the door shut and we started on our way. After all, there was an IS in that room. Who knows how much trouble the kid could have gotten in if he went in there? Luckily I saved him from that, and brought him to his exam room right on time, so he could continue his peaceful and ordinary life in a normal high school.

A few hours later all the exams had finished, leaving me without a reason to continue being here. My friend only asked me to cover his shift today, so tomorrow he'd be back and I'd be home in Fuyuki City. Still... that IS unit had just been sitting there. Nobody was around. It would be fine just to satisfy my curiosity and see it, right? I've never actually seen one in person before, and unlike most mages I actually worked with technology. If you consider broken old appliances to be technology, that is. If no one was around I'd just sneak a peek at it.

Having decided that, I casually meandered over to the room, with its big 'do not enter' sign, and non-suspiciously checked to make sure nobody was around. Satisfied that I wasn't about to get jumped by some imaginary security force I sidled my way inside and quickly closed the door behind me. There wasn't any real light to see by but I could vaguely make out the shape of the IS further into the room, so I blindly made my way there. Well, if I can't see it with my eyes, I'll see it with my magic. "Trace, on." I intoned, starting my aria. Closing my eyes in concentration I focused my will on one of the few techniques I possess; Structural Analysis. I instantly understood everything about this weapon- and make no mistake, it _is _a weapon- from what materials it was made out of to how it was forged, its history and characteristics, everything.

Now that I knew how it was made, I could Project a copy of it myself. If I wanted to die, of course. The amount of energy in the core was comparable to a divine sword like Excalibur, and even though the two energies were different in nature they would both burn out my magic circuits and leave me crippled, if not dead, were I to recreate them. If I managed to open up more of my circuits it would be a different story, but even with the instructions Tohsaka gives me on occasion it's still slow going.

My musing was interrupted by the sound of people yelling. "Oh my God- that IS is reacting to him! A man!" Snapping out of my thoughts I realized that I had started up the IS without intending to, and there were now three women in the same room as me, gasping and pointing at the sight. Well, damn. I can't say "Don't worry I just used magecraft to instantly understand how this weapon functions" or anything like that, and men can't use IS normally... this is bad. Okay Shirou, you're not the brightest magus in the world, but you can at least talk your way out of this situation, right?

*break*

It goes without saying that I soon found myself enrolled in the IS academy as the only male pilot in the world. Luckily no one had attributed my miraculous ability to magic so I probably wouldn't be assassinated any time soon, at least not by the Enforcers. The only other people who know I'm a magus are Ilya and Tohsaka, and they won't be telling the Magic Association about me. I hope. They were both rather angry that I done something so stupid and they became furious when I announced I had to board at the school instead of commuting from home... but I'm sure they won't get me killed. Probably.

As I navigated the super modern school I could feel the stares of hundreds of girls on me. Well, I expected this. In a school with only one guy I'd stand out quite a bit whether I wanted to or not. Trudging along I made it to my first class without any sort of incident, something I was rather surprised about given the number of people not-so-subtly stalking me around. As the homeroom teacher began her introductions I felt a little bit more embarrassed. This was supposed to be a freshman class, and as such my classmates were all two years younger than me in addition to all being girls, though the former reason embarrassed me much more. I was able to take the math and history and such classes with students my own grade, but in all matters IS I truly was an amateur. I couldn't hope to compete with the third-years in operating the machine, meaning I was stuck taking the freshman class. I only hoped that didn't mean I'd be stuck here two years after graduation...

"Emiya-kun. Emiya-kun!" A voice startled me out of my thoughts. Looking up I saw the teacher, Yamada-sensei, leaning over her desk trying to get my attention. "I'm so sorry Emiya-kun, but it's time for you to introduce yourself..." I didn't know why she was apologizing. It was my fault for spacing out during the introductions of my classmates after all, which was not something I'd normally do. I just had a lot on my mind right now. Standing up, I felt the harsh glares of all the girls in the class as the anomaly in their midst prepared to identify himself.

"My name is Emiya Shirou. I am... well, I'm probably seventeen. My hobbies are cooking and repairing old equipment. I look forward to studying with you all for a year." I finished, and prepared to take my seat again. "Um... what do you mean, 'probably seventeen'?" the teacher asked, furrowing her brow in confusion. Realizing that probably sounded strange, I explained my circumstances to the class at large.

"When I was about five I was caught up in the Fuyuki City fire. My parents must have died and I forgot everything but my first name, so the doctors had no way short of guessing to determine my age and birthday. So I'm probably seventeen, though I might still be sixteen or even eighteen," I explained. It wasn't exactly a unique story. The Fuyuki City fire was a national tragedy in which hundreds of Japanese citizens lost their lives and many more were injured or left homeless.

"Emiya-kun..." Yamada-sensei started, with tears in her eyes. Tears? Looking around I saw expressions of shock and pity radiating from all my classmates. What I said wasn't really that strange, right? I mean, everyone knows about the fire, so why would they be surprised to meet someone who lived through it? As I opened my mouth to explain that I didn't need any sympathy for something that happened years ago, my reply was instantly cut off by an unseen assailant ramming a fist onto the top of my head. Clutching my head in pain, I lifted my eyes so I could see just who my attacker was.

"Eh... Chifuyu-nee?" I asked, bewildered, as a second fist crashed down upon my already throbbing skull. "When we're at school call me Orimura-sensei," she coldly corrected me. I was surprised to see one of Fuji-nee's kendo friends here at the IS academy, and apparently as my teacher to boot. I still remember a few years ago when Chifuyu-nee would come over to my stand-alone dojo right next to my house and spar with Fuji-nee for hours, demanding a hot meal directly afterward and often staying the night. Come to think of it Fuji-nee did say something about how Chifuyu-nee was a really famous and powerful IS pilot, but I didn't really keep up with stuff like that at the time.

"Everyone!" her clear and authoritative voice rang out, "I will be your homeroom teacher this year. I will thoroughly train you in the use of an IS." Right as she was finished speaking the whole class erupted into cheering, shouting things like "I came here because I admired Chifuyu-sama!" and "I'll die for Onee-sama!" The morose mood that pervaded the entire class just seconds ago completely disappeared. Wow. I guess she really is famous then?

Chifuyu-nee just seemed exasperated by this. "I'm amazed by how many idiots have gathered this year. Or are they only in my class?" she asked herself. In response to this the cheer erupting from my classmates only increased in volume and energy, as if any word she said would be greeted by nothing but unbridled enthusiasm. "Hm... so that means Chifuyu-nee is my homeroom teacher?" I muttered aloud. Taking this as some sort of cue Chifuyu-nee pointed directly at me and demanded "Can't you even make a simple greeting?"

"Eh... Chifuyu-nee, I didn't-" I tried to say, before she slammed my head down onto my desk. "Call me Orimura-sensei," she intoned.

"Yes, Orimura-sensei," I responded. The only response I could make, naturally.

I could hear the class whispering amongst themselves as they tried to determine what kind of relationship the two of us had. She's only my guardian's friend, though after this display it'll be hard to convince everyone of that.

"Quiet, everyone! I'll be teaching you the basics of an IS for the next 6 months. After that it will be practical training for the remaining 6 months. If you understand then answer me. Even if you don't understand answer me anyway!" Faced with such authority the class could only answer "Yes!" in perfect unison. Seeing her like this reminded me of the regal bearing Saber used to... no, stop that. Focus on the present.

I noticed that Yamada-sensei had launched into a discussion of the history of the IS while I was spacing out, a really basic intro just meant to set the mood for the rest of the information she'd no doubt continue with. This was all stuff in the required reading before attending the school so I wasn't too worried about it. The lecture continued right up until the bell signaling the end of homeroom, so I assumed she'd be picking up on new stuff tomorrow. Not that I really wanted to be an IS pilot to begin with.

My goal in life is to be an Ally of Justice, a superhero who devotes his life to saving others. An IS, while powerful, is illegal to use in any situations other than strictly monitored matches or during emergencies. While I could use one to, say, help victims of a landslide I couldn't use one to hunt down a dangerous Dead Apostle and blow it to smithereens- the IS itself would record that I 'killed' someone and I'd be jailed for life. This made my plans for the future quite precarious, since the Japanese government let me know quite firmly that I didn't have a choice in coming to this academy and becoming a pilot. 'The world's first and only male IS pilot' couldn't just travel the world anonymously, slaying evil and righting wrongs without far too many people paying attention. This is the problem that's been weighing me down the most.

While I pondered my fate at my desk, I noticed a girl standing in front of me. She was wearing the student uniform, of course, and with a start I remembered her introduction from just a few hours ago. This was Shinonono Houki, a childhood friend of mine. She's quite a bit shorter than me now, with long black hair tied into a ponytail and deep purple eyes. "Got a moment?" she abruptly asks, then starts walking without waiting for a reply. Sighing, I rose out of my seat and started following her. I haven't seen her for six years or so, but it seems like she recognized me too.

Houki leads me without talking to the roof, and I follow her in silence as well. After we get there I prompt her, "Did you need something?" She continues to avoid my gaze and question, opting instead to look out over the railing. Well, this is weird. "We haven't seen each other in six years, right?" I ask, which gets a startled response from Houki. She still doesn't seem willing to talk so I continue on a bit. "That reminds me, you won the kendo nationals last year, didn't you?"

"Wha- how do you know that?" she exclaims, clearly surprised. It's not that surprising, is it? "I read it in the newspaper," I answered easily, "and Fuji-nee told me about it as well. Her exact words were something like 'that cute Houki-chan you used to play with won the nationals, Shirou! You should learn from her example!'" This was roughly around the time I quit the archery club, after all. Fuji-nee was probably trying to motivate me to return to the club with tales of how my old friend was excelling in her own efforts, but I wasn't interested in competitive sports at all.

Houki started blushing and fidgeting after I mentioned how Fuji-nee was praising her, so I just continued with this one-sided conversation myself. "Oh yeah, I haven't properly greeted you yet, Houki. Even after six years I recognized you instantly. You haven't even changed your hairstyle," I remarked, causing her to turn away and fidget some more.

"You remembered my hairstyle?" she asks, not looking at me. "Of course," I reply, "It's not like I'd forget you. We used to play a lot together, back when Fuji-nee was still out doing kendo."

Before we could talk any further the bell rang, ending the small recess we were using to catch up. Well, we're classmates now, so we'll have plenty of time to catch up later. Having a friendly face in the oppressive all-female class considerably lightened my mood on the way back to the classroom.

After another class of mostly review from the pre-term assignments, the chime for a break sounded again. I felt my body relaxing, realizing that I had unconsciously tensed during the whole class hour as terms I only vaguely recognized were tossed around with reckless abandon by the two teachers. I read the textbook cover to cover several times before coming to the academy, mostly on Tohsaka's assurance that I would need the knowledge to not expose myself as a magus, but I still had trouble following some of the lecture. I just wasn't good at this high-tech stuff in general. Still, I wouldn't do embarrassingly bad, and I didn't particularly want to excel anyway. Maybe if I had a completely mediocre performance people would stop caring about me and I could follow my ideals.

A man can hope.

Having my train of thought interrupted yet again, I turn to face a strikingly blonde girl who has positioned herself next to my desk. "Huh?" I manage to get out, not having heard what she said at all. "Oh my, what a terrible greeting! You should feel honored just to talk to me!" she announced imperiously. I tried to wrap my head around this proclamation and felt myself failing miserably. My train of thought had just crashed at the station and I was having trouble processing just what was going on right now. "Who are you?" I blurted out, my mouth not getting the memo and deciding to carry on without me.

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say. With a heavy thud she slammed her hands down onto my desk, shouting "You don't know me? Cecilia Alcott?" All I could do in this rapidly worsening situation was shake my head. "I'll have you know I'm the representative pilot from England, as well as the valedictorian of the entrance exam!"

Something clicked in my head. "Oh, so you're pretty important then. Did you want something?" Being a representative pilot is an important position, a symbol of the country they represent. If she went out of her way to talk to me then it must be something serious.

…

I was wrong. Did she just come over here to brag about her position? She somehow reminds me of Gilgamesh, though he at least had the justification of being the king of everything at one point. This girl is just good at a sport. "...and the only elite who managed to defeat her instructor!" she continued, and before I could pay enough attention to stop myself I responded "I defeated an instructor too." I instantly cringed as the girl halted her tirade to squawk out a "huh?" Okay, not the best idea I ever had. Quickly trying to placate her, I explained the situation as humbly as I could. "The instructor looked down on me because I was a man, and I basically got a lucky shot in and clipped her chin. She would have guarded it easily if she wasn't so prejudiced."

Before Cecilia could form a response, the bell for the next class chimed and ended the conversation for us. "We'll be speaking more about this later," she announced, and strolled to her own desk in a huff.

Well, my story was basically true. The instructor didn't seem to like the idea of a male IS pilot and attacked me with full force. After the training Saber gave me during the Grail War, my body instantly reacted like my opponent was a Servant trying to kill me and launched itself into a counter-attack that was meant to force my opponent back to give me some breathing room. It turns out the instructor was really not expecting me to react at all, propelling herself directly into my attack and taking a brutal blow on her chin that instantly knocked her out.

Which really wasn't good for me, seeing as how the match was recorded and I showed a reaction speed far faster than anything I should have been capable of, considering I had never piloted an IS before. Another stupid mistake in a long string of stupid mistakes. Announcing my victory in class hadn't exactly been brilliant either. I sighed to myself. This was going to be a long year.

Trudging along the path from the classroom to the dorms felt like I was marching to my own funeral. Girls were talking excitedly all around me, passing their first day in an academy designed to teach them their dream job. Meanwhile I was feeling the crushing weight of realization that I really had no way around my current predicament. Just how was I planning on becoming an Ally of Justice cooped up and monitored in this futuristic academy?

Strolling through the dorms, I located room 1025 and unlocked it, letting myself in. At least I wouldn't have to share a room with anyone. After all, I was the only guy in this entire school- "Is someone there?" a voice calls out. No, that must have been my imagination. That was way too feminine sounding and "Oh, are you my roommate? I'm sorry for not dressing; I was just taking a shower." Yes, very feminine. Those curves I can make out beneath her towel are very feminine indeed. The young lady in front of me is currently drying off her hair so she hasn't opened her eyes yet. Would I survive if I jumped out the window right now? Yes. If I reinforced my legs I'd probably only break a few bones but I'd better start running for it now.

"My name is Shinonono Houki," she finished, finally looking up at me. Too late. "Shi-Shirou!" Looking down at her own state of dress, she yells "Don't look!" and I hastily turn to face the other way.

"Sorry!"

"Why are you here?"

A perfectly reasonable question. "This is my room! There must have been some sort of mistake." I didn't know how else to explain a young man and a young woman ending up with the same dorm room, but that thought was chased out of my head as Houki grabbed a heavy wooden sword and started swinging it at me. Not wanting to be beaten senseless I immediately started running out of the room. Dammit, I didn't want to be in this situation either, so don't attack me! I'd leave on my own anyway!

Stumbling out into the corridor I was greeted by a number of girls in casual clothes. Seeing Houki in that sort of state was too stimulating on its own, and the skimpy tank tops and short shorts these girls were wearing did nothing to calm me down. "Oh, this is Emiya-kun's room! That's good to know," one of the girls commented. It wouldn't be my room for long, I thought. It certainly wasn't proper for a young girl her age to be sharing a room with me, and I resolved to go set this problem straight right then and there. I guess I'd ask Chifuyu-nee first, since I was already acquainted with her and that would speed up the explanation.

*break*

"There are no available rooms. Stop being selfish," she coldly answered after I had finished my story. "Wha-what?"

"Did you think the school didn't consider this already? It's getting late. Go back to your room."

"But- but surely there's something you can do! Off campus housing or an apartment or-"

"The matter is already settled." Chifuyu-nee destroyed my arguments with that last statement. I could see in her eyes that there was no further appeal, no compromise. As much as I objected to sharing the room with a girl, in the face of such overwhelming authority I had no other option. As I turned on my heels to head back to my now foreboding dorm room, I briefly considered just sleeping outside. I knew such a shameful thing would only bring down the wrath of the administration on me, but it might still be better than sleeping in the same room as a girl.

Nevertheless I found myself outside room 1025 again. Sighing, I knocked on the door. I wasn't about to let a repeat of earlier this evening happen, and resolved to knocking on the door every time I was about to enter. Houki opened the door for me, looking much more presentable in her kendo attire. "Shirou? What are you doing back here?" A frown creased her brow. "So you really are my roommate then?" she asked. "Yes. I asked the school about it and they said there just are no other available rooms, so we don't have a choice. I'm sorry to be a burden on you," I apologized, bowing deeply.

Houki wasn't to blame in this situation, after all. She had every right to a normal school life with a normal female roommate, and only my stupid blunder before had caused me to enroll in this academy. So in a roundabout way this entire thing was my fault, and it felt worse that it was an old friend of mine that had to suffer because of it. "N-no... you don't have to apologize." she started, turning a little red in the cheeks.

I was embarrassed about this too, so I sympathized with her. She coughed, clearing her throat. "We just have to set some ground rules, that's all. Firstly, about shower usage rules. I'll be using it from 7 to 8. You can use it from 8 to 9." I nodded. It was only fair for her to set the rules, and I'd do my best in following them. I wouldn't want to put her out any more than I was already. We continued setting up timetables and other things that would hopefully minimize the amount of embarrassing situations we could be put in, and finally hammered out something that looked like it would work shortly before lights out.

Even with the screen between our two beds, Houki was too close! Just being in the same room as a girl when she was sleeping kept me a nervous wreck throughout most of the night. I must have ended up falling asleep at some point though, which I guess is good news. If it was anyone other than Houki I doubt I'd be sleeping for a week at least, but I might even get used to this in a few days. Not that I wanted to, but this seemed to be yet another problem I had no way of solving. For now.

*break*

After a quick breakfast with Houki it was off to class again the next day. When Chifuyu-nee announced that the class would be deciding on a representative for the school-wide tournaments that happened every so often I just started zoning out. Honestly, I didn't care what kind of standing my class had in comparison to the rest of the school, and I didn't know anyone in class well enough to voice an opinion anyway. This was basically just free time for me to go over the notes I had been taking. That suited me just fine. I didn't really get the part about energy something-or-others the teacher had talked about during- "I nominate Emiya-kun!" a voice rang out in the background. Wait, what? "I second that!" another female voice chimed in. No no no, why would you be nominating me? I clearly have the least experience with IS out of everyone here and it's not like I've even fought a real match before.

Before I could shoot down this absurd development Cecilia beat me to it. "I can't acknowledge this! Having a man as our representative would bring us nothing but shame! Do you expect me to put up with this farce for a whole year? In the first place, it's almost a crime forcing me to live in such an unrefined country like Japan! The culture, the food- everything is at such a low level!"

She might have intended to keep going, but there was absolutely no way I was going to let that slide. "Did a _British_ girl just insult my nation's food?" I asked, steel in my voice. The food I had been preparing for years, the food that Sakura and Fuji-nee and Saber had enjoyed, the food I had dedicated good chunks of my life to learning- she was going to stand there and brush it all aside?

"Britain has many delicious dishes! Are you insulting my country?" she shot back. Yes, I was. I glared at her, challenging her to say another word about food. She leveled a hand at me, pointing as pointedly as she could at my chest. "This is a duel!" she declared. "Fine with me. I don't have a usable kitchen nearby, but we can travel back to my house if we need to. If you've got something closer I'm fine with that too." Who did this girl think she was? I'd bet my cooking against almost anyone, and I even had a few dishes I could bet against Sakura with one hundred percent confidence. If she thought I couldn't cook because I was a man she had another thing coming.

"What?" she asked, confusion evident on her face. Did she not expect me to take her up on the challenge? I did state that cooking was one of my hobbies in my introduction so it shouldn't be that surprising. Then again, judging by how highly she regarded herself she might not have been paying attention before. "Like I said, I'm ready for a cooking contest whenever you are. Japan's food against Britain's food. There are even plenty of foreign girls who go to this school who can judge for us so bias won't be an issue. It won't even take-" a fist slammed into the back of my head. "She was talking about an IS duel, idiot," I heard Chifuyu-nee say behind me.

That didn't make any sense. "We were having an argument about food. How would we settle that with an IS match?" I asked, expecting her to concede the point. Looking around the room, however, it was plain to see that most of my classmates seemed bewildered by my response. 'Tha-that's right!" Cecilia finally spoke up again. "This is an IS academy, so it makes sense that we should resolve disputes with an IS!" she declared. Well, okay, that made a bit of sense. "Fine," I replied. I was much less confident and eager for an IS match, but there was no way I could back down now. I'd have to win this fight, too. I knew I was just being hot-headed, but there were some things which I just couldn't overlook and insulting my food was one of them.

"That settles it. The battle will be held next Monday in the third arena," Chifuyu-nee announced. "Emiya, Alcott, make sure you're prepared." Did she look happy for some reason?

*chapter end

A couple things to note. First, Shirou is an unreliable narrator when it comes to girls. The story is told entirely by his perspective so he often misinterprets the actions of those around him. Just to reiterate this is the guy who had Sakura coming over to his house every day for a **year** to cook and clean for him, and he never even noticed that she was sweet on him. This guy is so dense he sucks up girls in an orbit around him. So when he makes guesses as to why girls are blushing or saying things he doesn't understand, he's probably getting the reason wrong.

Second, a lot of people seemed upset that Shirou knew Chifuyu and Houki from the past so I figured I'd share my reasons for that with you now. The answer is simply that Houki has no reason to be in the story otherwise. She's extremely anti-social, quiet, and would have no reason to interact with Shirou normally. Shirou, for his part, would not seek out her company for any particular reason. Without that prior connection they simply wouldn't be friends.

'But wait!' you cry, 'they are room mates so they'd have to interact!' Well, no. That was the reason I made Chifuyu an acquaintance of Shirou as well. Using my massive brain I put a few details together in the original story:

Ichika is told there are no extra rooms so he has to share with Houki

**Three **transfer students show up soon after and all get rooms

Chifuyu is the dorm supervisor of the first year students

It's obvious that Chifuyu simply made Houki and Ichika share a room, for a number of reasons I can think of, most obviously to prevent girls from simply pushing Ichika down and having their way with him in an empty room. So if Shirou didn't know Houki or Chifuyu at the beginning of the story, they wouldn't be room mates in the first place. I hope that clears up a few things, though I know there will still be people who say 'that's just lazy!' Which is true, that was the lazy man's way of solving this problem. I am a lazy, lazy man.

Expect a lot of deviation from the IS storyline in future chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of chattering girls greeted me as I made my way into the classroom. I had arrived a bit later than I intended to, probably because I was still not getting much sleep with Houki in the same room as me. I sighed to myself. It really was too much stimulation for a young man like myself, but there wasn't anything I could do against the stone-cold stare of Chifuyu-nee so I was forced to accept the situation.

Speaking of the devil, Chifuyu-nee is walking up to me right now. "Emiya. It will take some time to finish your IS," she says without establishing any context. The confusion must have been evident on my face because she continued explaining. "The Academy has decided to make you a personal IS." she concluded. The whispers of my classmates erupted behind me, and I recalled hearing that there were only a few hundred IS in the whole world. Why would the Academy just give one to me... oh right, the 'only male pilot' thing. Sometimes I forgot that I was now a national priority.

As I reconciled this situation with my own logic a swish of skirts in front of my desk caused me to look up. There, standing imperiously in front of me, was Cecilia Alcott. "I'm relieved to hear that," she started what looked to be another tirade, "The two of us are going to be competing for the class representative position! A training-use IS would be no match for my personal machine, so it's only fair that you get a personal IS yourself!" Oh, she's actually considerate about this sort of thing. Wait, hold on. "You have a personal IS?" I asked her.

"Oh? You didn't know?" her tone turned superior once again. I was just starting to get a better opinion of her too. "As the representative pilot of Britain I obviously have my own personal machine! Since there are only 467 IS in existence those who own a personal machine are the elite among the elite!"

"So you'd have to be really important to your country in order to get a personal IS" I concluded. That made sense, seeing as how an IS was an extremely powerful and limited resource.

With that conversation over, the two teachers launched into another lesson covering the particular characteristics of the IS's limited artificial intelligence. This was an extremely bad subject for me, bordering on the science fiction aspect of technology, so I made sure to focus my full attention on the lesson. Even so there were a few parts I didn't quite understand, and I resolved to ask Houki about them later on in our room. I didn't really want to impose on her any more than I had already, but she had seemed a little excited when I asked if she could help me earlier. Maybe she just likes teaching people?

Right as the bell signaling lunch break chimed, I rose from my seat and headed towards Chifuyu-nee. She treated me with her usual sharp glare as I revealed what I had on my mind. "Is there any way I could give some input on what my personal machine will be like?" I asked, honestly not knowing the answer. This personal IS was just another burden the Japanese government was thrusting onto me and I wasn't even sure what the thing would be like or how close to completion it was. However, if I wanted to stand any kind of chance in a match with Britain's representative pilot I'd at least need my IS to have a few familiar tricks I could pull out in battle.

Chifuyu-nee gave me a withering stare. "You don't even know anything about IS yet, so why do you want to interfere?" she asks the obvious question. I knew this was coming. Chifuyu-nee was really sharp and I didn't really have a reason I could explain to her. 'There's a certain way I like to fight with my magecraft' isn't exactly a valid reason to be tampering with a government-sanctioned IS, and I'm sure she would see through any lies I told her. So I went with as little truth as I could. "I just want my IS to be able to do a few things. Is that an impossible request?"

She narrowed her eyes at me, but didn't interrupt so I continued on. "There doesn't seem to be a limit to the number of weapons you can program into an IS, so I made a list..." pulling said list out of my pocket, I handed it to her and watched her eyes widen. That might have had something to do with the fact that my list was over two pages long. I had been furiously writing out everything I could possibly need in the short breaks we had before now and was pretty sure I had everything covered.

Chifuyu-nee frowned at me over the paper, but withheld her comments about the immense number of swords and other ancient weapons I was asking for, much to my relief. She was a swordswoman herself, a fact I relied on when asking her. "I'll see what I can do." she stated. I wasn't going to get a more concrete answer than that, but at least is was something. I smiled, thanked her, and started heading towards the cafeteria for lunch. I was still a little upset that I wasn't able to prepare any food myself but at least the school's fare was surprisingly good.

I made a mental note to find Houki and sit with her after collecting my lunch, spotting her eating alone at a table made for several people. Was she waiting for friends or did she just like to eat alone? Despite my reservations I still needed to talk to her, so I ended up sitting across from her anyway. She acknowledged my proximity with a nod of her head but quickly resumed eating. It's best to be direct, so I simply said "Please teach me how to pilot an IS!"

Houki looked up at me in surprise, chopsticks halfway to her mouth. She recovered quickly, though, and sat contemplating the thought. I didn't press her, since this was a pretty selfish demand on my part. If she said no I'd have to ask one of my two teachers, either the extremely unreliable-looking Yamada or the frighteningly strict Chifuyu-nee, something I was desperately hoping to avoid. After a few moments Houki nodded and said, "Come to the dojo after school."

*break

The crack of shinai bashing against each other echoed throughout the training hall. Houki was even better than I expected her to be, but I shouldn't have underestimated a national kendo champion in the first place. Even so I wasn't doing too badly. After training against the inhuman speed of Saber and the relentless energy of Fuji-nee I was at least able to see and defend against Houki's blitzing attacks, though she left me no room to strike back. The constant sparring left both of us exhausted even though neither of us had landed a hit, but Houki only announced it was break time a while after I stopped feeling most of my arms.

Exhausted, we both took a seat as Houki turned to look at me. I hastily took off my helmet so she could look me in the eyes when she spoke. "Not bad. I thought you did archery instead of kendo, Shiro."

"I started learning swordsmanship about half a year ago," I started, causing her to raise an eyebrow. I didn't really want to explain about how monsters were trying to kill me and having the ability to recreate any sword I saw, so I went with a simple version. "I realized I was too weak for what I wanted to accomplish so I trained. You're still much better than me." She started blushing at that. She really does get embarrassed when people praise her, it seems.

"You're strong." She announced. "But not strong enough. From now on you'll come here to train every day after school."

That suited me just fine. Somehow I was getting used to the fact that there always seemed to be a girl stronger than me with swords in my life so I didn't grumble or anything when she decided to help me improve. "Thank you," I opted for instead. She seemed a little taken aback by my sincere attitude but admirably continued on. "We'll start training with the school's IS after that. It won't be exactly like your personal machine but it will at least get you used to the reaction speed and three-dimensional maneuvering."

This really was more than I could have asked for. I only regretted that I wouldn't be able to pay her back with a nice home-cooked meal or something else heartfelt like that. I'd have to think of some way to repay her kindness though. If she's taking so much time out of her day just to help me there's no excuse for not returning the favor. "I look forward to being in your care" was all I could manage for now. Wow, she really turned red that time. Maybe she does just really like teaching people?

*break

A week later I find myself standing in a hanger, waiting for my personal IS to be delivered. In only a few minutes or so the machine that will be my constant companion, monitor, and weapon will arrive and my fate will be sealed. Well, that's a bit dramatic. I'm just nervous so I'm constantly spouting this nonsense to myself to focus on something other than the upcoming match. Even Houki, standing silently next to me, isn't doing much to calm my nerves.

It's not like I really have anything to worry about, I tell myself. There's a force field around my body that will protect me from lethal attacks, and flying through the air isn't a guarantee of death either.

Despite my assurances to myself I really did not want to pilot that thing. The idea of willingly facing someone who plans on shooting me with tank-piercing rounds and actual _lasers_ is frankly insane, promises of my safety notwithstanding. And what idiot decided a match would continue until one person's shields ran _completely out_? That's just asking for someone to die. I honestly had no idea how these matches continued to be non-lethal. I'd faced down angry demigods and Servants of unmatched skill who were all trying to kill me before, but at least then I was following my ideals of protecting everybody. This was just a sport. A stupid, dangerous sport that doesn't help anyone.

"Emiya-kun. Emiya-kun! Your personal IS is ready!" Yamada-sensei's voice comes on over the loudspeaker. As I process that information a set of giant hydraulic doors open up, revealing an impressive steel gray IS that I assume is my machine. It takes me only a second to use Structural Analysis on it, and I almost whistled in appreciation. This machine is far, far better than the ones belonging to the school.

"Emiya. Mount up immediately. The time you can use the arena is limited, so get used to your IS during the match." Chifuyu-nee's voice echoes from the speaker. That's fine. I already know most of what I need to know about the machine, except for one last thing I need to check. Powering up the suit I immediately accessed the 'stored weapons' section of its database and boy was I impressed. I have no idea how they did it in such a short time but every single weapon I asked for was included, though without actually calling them into reality I couldn't be sure how accurate they had gotten them.

I smiled. I may not like the idea of guns or flying around like crazy, but swords were something I understood. Just the fact that I had tons of blades to call upon at any time was far more reassuring than I'd like to admit. I hadn't had time to practice my magecraft for even a second after arriving here, due to all the surveillance, so being able to use a similar ability was a breath of fresh air.

Yamada-sensei once more turned on the speakers. "This is Emiya-kun's personal IS- 'Senken' (Thousand Swords)." I smiled even more broadly. I had a feeling I'd grow to like this machine really soon. Placing my hand on its cool exterior I started the mounting process. **Access granted. System start.** The machine vocalized, then displayed all sorts of graphs and readings at me. I waved them away, already knowing all of the relevant information. A new picture popped up- "Cecilia's IS is Blue Tears. It's primarily a long-ranged machine," Yamada-sensei informed me. Well, I had already researched my opponent's IS beforehand. It seemed like the smart thing to do, since I was preparing to fight her and all.

I turned to the silent girl on my right. "Houki. I'll be going now." It was only polite to say something before I dashed off in this giant metal suit. "A-ah. Be sure to win." she replies. Don't worry, I intend to. Even if I can't defend the honor of Japanese food with my own cooking I'll at least win at this stupid sport!

As I picked up speed, rocketing out of the hanger and into the arena, I realized with a start that the match had attracted quite a crowd. They were only girls from the school so I guessed the general public wasn't admitted to watch. That made sense- there would be no end of people wanting to watch the first match of the first male pilot in the world. I wasn't sure if I was relieved the spectators were limited to my schoolmates or if I was embarrassed that anyone was watching at all.

Quickly pushing those thoughts out of my head, I finished my flight up to the top of the stadium. My opponent, Cecilia Alcott, was already waiting for me. To be brutally honest I didn't want to fight her. I wasn't in the habit of hitting girls and there was always a chance I could seriously injure her in this match. However, if there was anything that Saber and Fuji-nee managed to beat into my head it was that sometimes women wanted to be warriors too. I didn't like it, but it wasn't my choice to make. I'd just have to be careful not to hurt her too badly.

"It's not too late, you know. I'll still give you a chance," my opponent said out of nowhere. "A chance at what?" I asked, honestly surprised. "If you beg for my forgiveness I won't have to go through with this match and humiliate you," she announced. Okay, she asked for it. "...let's start" was my response.

I only had a second of warning before she whipped her giant gun into a firing position, locking directly onto my chest. Without even thinking I yelled "Rho Aias!," flinging my left arm in front of me, and was gratified as an impact smashed into the shield I had just called forth. The one meter round shield was specially treated to be able to absorb hits from lasers, but it could only handle so much punishment before it would simply shatter from accumulated damage.

So I dismissed the shield. One of the greatest strengths of an IS was the ability to store weapons in some sort of sub-dimension, recalling or dismissing them with a moment's thought. I could use the shield to block unavoidable blows and immediately get it out of my own way so it wouldn't decrease my mobility. I had named it Rho Aias just because it was a name I was familiar with, which would decrease the amount of time it took to call it forth.

As the shield dematerialized I saw Cecilia, gun still pointed at me, only a few dozen meters away. It really was her fault for starting the fight when I was so close, so she had no reason to complain as I streaked towards her, a sword already materializing in my hands. She wasn't complaining though. With a smirk she flipped two barrels, located at about her waist, in my direction and launched a barrage of _missiles_ at me.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I shout, sacrificing dozens and dozens of blades by just materializing a cloud of steel in front of the missile's paths, causing them to explode in front of me as I flew backwards at full speed. The intense smoke completely blocks my line of sight so I can't judge where my opponent has gone, and a warning bell goes off in my machine as lasers streak towards me from multiple directions. Resisting the urge to swear I immediately start zigzagging, searching for my enemy. Oh, I see now. She separated the four semi-autonomous drones from her machine which are firing at me right now.

This was good.

Those drones had good offensive ability, but only when acting in concert, and their defense was terrible. I flew down until two of the drones were obscured by the smoke and drew out my only ranged weapon- a massive bow. I materialized one of the special arrows I had requested and quickly put myself through the eight steps of firing a bow; I have only once missed a target when using Japanese style archery. I sighted one of the two visible drones and let the arrow fly.

The drone exploded and I repeated the process again in the span of about a second. The immensely powerful bow I requested worked perfectly, combining with the greatly enhanced strength of the IS resulting in a bow that fired projectiles almost as fast as bullets. As the third drone zoomed into view I took aim and shattered it as well, though not before taking a hit myself. I wasn't worried, as I had curtailed a significant part of her offensive strength while taking only a few hits to my shield in the process.

The smoke cleared enough for me to see Cecilia raising her primary rifle, so I abandoned my bow and accelerated directly towards her. As she fired a shot straight at my head I threw Rho Aias up to deflect the beam, angling the round shield so that the blow only glanced the side to keep it from breaking too soon. The more experienced pilot fired shot after shot at my charging form, slowing my momentum and finally cracking the shield I was relying on so heavily. At this distance, though, I'd be able to close into melee in a few seconds, so I just dropped the shield and prepared to take a hit bodily before reaching her.

She faltered in surprise for a second; ruining her own shot and guaranteeing me time to reach her as I abandoned my own protection. I was no stranger to reckless assaults but apparently she was. Having plenty of space to retreat, though, she just started accelerating backward as well, aiming her gun at me once again.

This was the chance I had been waiting for.

I raised my hand and materialized the longest spear I had in my new collection, a monster made of flexible wood that extended almost ten meters from base to tip. With her eyes focused on aiming at my center she couldn't see the whip-like spear as it smashed down onto her gun, causing her to misfire wildly and lose her balance. I dropped the cumbersome weapon and took advantage of her disorientation to close the gap and simply bash straight into her.

It was an understatement to say Blue Tears was a ranged IS. The thing only had one tiny knife for melee programmed into it and Cecilia didn't have the skill to use even that effectively. Her only real defense against physical attacks was to either destroy the opponent before they reached her or use the IS's mobility to retreat.

So I did the dumbest thing possible: I smashed bodily into her unit and then projected a chain fastening the left half of her machine to the right half of mine. With my free left hand I called yet another sword and cleaved her last drone, which was currently attached to her IS's shoulder in two, denying her any means of escape. Her rifle was too large to target me and I could easily disarm her knife if she brought it out, so this was effectively checkmate. The only thing left to do was have her actually surrender.

"What- what do you think you are doing, you brute? Unhand me at once! You expect me, Cecilia Alcott, to bear this disgrace?"

In retrospect I probably should have expected this. "Look, you're bound and have no defense against my attacks!" I almost shouted, waving the sword in my free hand around pointedly. "If you don't surrender I'll have to bash you until your shield goes down!" This is uncomfortable for me too, you know! I didn't expect the chains to push our actual bodies up so close together and I can't dismiss them until you surrender or my whole strategy will go up in smoke.

Disregarding my inner monologue she starts on another rant herself. "Is this why you agreed to fight me, so you could take advantage of the situation? I had no idea you were such a terrible creature! If I had known-"

"Look, I didn't want to do this either! But it's not like I had a whole lot of options to beat you without hurting you, you know? Even with the shield I don't want to hit a girl if I can help it. This was the only way I could force you to surrender. So please," I sincerely added.

Cecilia looked rather taken aback. "You- you were trying not to hurt me?" she asked. I could see her replaying the fight in her head, noticing that I had never made an attack directly against her. "Why?"

I shook my head. "I don't believe in hitting girls. When I have to, maybe. But for a sport? No. When you're helpless to resist? Definitely not. I won't hit you, so just surrender. Please." I dismissed my sword. I never intended to hit her anyway, and threatening didn't seem to work, so I could only appeal to her decency to concede a match she obviously lost.

Cecilia seemed to be deep in thought, staring directly into my eyes. Then she sighed, and shook her head. "It's true that... you have a slight advantage right now. You fought very fiercely, so the graceful thing to do would be to let you have this victory. After all, an elite like myself has to reward commoners like you for a good performance!"

Well, that was one way to put it. With her announcement the loudspeakers officially declared me the winner and I dismissed my chains, allowing the two of us to detach ourselves from each other. I checked over my inventory, mentally noting what weapons I'd have to replace. By my best guess I had already destroyed at least 20 swords, my best shield, and three armor-piercing arrows just in this match. I wondered how expensive those were to replace and how many I could get away with destroying every time I sparred or had a match, since my win recognized me as our class representative.

Oh, damn. Why did I agree to this match? I don't want to be the class rep! Argh, I got so mad when she insulted Japan's food I totally forgot we were having a discussion about the class rep position! How stupid can I get? I don't think everyone will just accept it if I say 'I only cared about the food part in that conversation, I don't want to represent you' or something after I kicked up such a fuss.

"Shirou-san... what's that light?" Cecilia asks, pointing to a blinking on my IS's display.

"I don't know, it popped up during the fight and I didn't have a chance to read it," I respond, bringing up the message. **Fitting completed. First Shift available**. Oh, that's good. The first shift is supposed to be tailored to the pilot's needs, as opposed to the factory settings I was using that were just baseline. Before I could figure out just what had changed I heard a strangled noise from behind me. "You- you won even with just the factory settings!" Cecilia almost choked on the words. "I only got the machine right before our match so I couldn't test it out," I explained. If anything, that caused Cecilia to sputter even more. "You never even flew it before... we-well, it was an admirable flight for your first match. Try to keep improving and don't embarrass our class!" she called out as she descended to her hanger.

I decided to leave activating my first shift for later and to just head back. Since I was the class rep now I'd have to study even harder. My classmates were counting on me and I had to fulfill their expectations. I sighed again. This was getting much more complicated than I had initially hoped.


	3. Chapter 3

"Emiya. What the hell was that?" Chifuyu-nee asked me. That's certainly one way to start a conversation.

"It was only my first match… did I do something wrong? I'm pretty sure I followed all the rules correctly." I wasn't sure which part of the battle I just had with Cecilia that she was objecting to, and her usual sharp glare revealed nothing, which left me at a complete loss. Was forcing opponents to surrender seen as dishonorable or something?

"Don't play dumb. Where did you learn to fight? Nobody has used a style like that in the entire history of the IS Academy. You certainly didn't learn that from Taiga. So where did you?" She kept her eyes locked onto mine during her whole speech, studying every minute detail of my face. Oh boy, this wasn't looking good. Chifuyu-nee would be able to see through any lie I tried to come up with and there was no way I could tell her the truth.

"Shirou!" I saw Houki running up to me, looking even grumpier than usual. Good job Houki, distract this conversation while I try to think up an acceptable excuse. "Where did you learn to fight like that, Shirou? That wasn't kendo at all!" the normally stoic girl accused me, joining Chifuyu-nee's side instead of mine. Not good. With Houki joining my adversary the slim chance of victory I had just envisioned was quickly replaced with overwhelming defeat. The two females were intensely staring at me, waiting for an answer. I gave the only answer I could.

"I can't tell you."

Houki looked taken aback by my abrupt response, but Chifuyu-nee just nodded slowly. "Emiya. There are some things I should tell you about your IS." I was rather surprised that the warrior woman had just given up, but then I realized she was more likely just switching tactics after my absolute refusal. "When you asked for a machine that had 'the fastest possible weapon materialization and dematerialization,' the engineers took that as a challenge. Most IS have a delay of about a second before the weapon is brought into real space so that the pilot doesn't call weapons by accident, but for you that doesn't apply. The time lag between you thinking about a weapon and it materializing is close enough to zero that we can't tell the difference."

I nodded as she explained. I had noticed the lack of delay as soon as I had called for Rho Aias the first time and used that information during the rest of the match. Still, it looked like she was going to continue her explanation, so I hoped she would tell me some new information as well.

"Which means that you never once thought about a weapon you didn't intend to immediately use. You called dozens of different weapons you'd never seen before at the same time. You were able to stop thinking about a weapon and dematerialize it the second it wasn't of use to you. Despite knowing exactly which weapon you would use at the end of the match you never once summoned it by accident."

My mind went blank. Just how sharp was this woman? How had she made all those conclusions with so little information? Not only that, but after watching the match just once? I felt myself begin to sweat. Still, there was no way she could make the connection between my displayed abilities and my magecraft. She could tell I was abnormal, yes, but nothing beyond that. I forced myself to relax, realizing I had tensed up considerably during her deconstruction of my mental capabilities. I tried to reply but found my throat too dry to even utter a word. As I swallowed, she concluded her lengthy speech. "That's not something an amateur who's never used an IS can do."

Silence. Chifuyu-nee was once again fixing her entire attention on me while Houki looked back and forth between us, not quite sure what was going on but not liking it at all. What could I say? Nothing I could think of would get me out of this situation. I realized I had unconsciously taken a step back, preparing myself to bolt out the door and just run the hell away before I could do anything even worse. That really was my best option. Anything I said to her was likely to reveal ten times the information I wanted it to, so just physically ending this conversation and coming up with a defense later was my only choice.

Before I could actually enact my plan to strategically run away, Chifuyu-nee sighed and started rubbing her forehead in an exasperated manner. "I'm not going to eat you, idiot. Stop acting like a rabbit." Her posture switched from threatening to casual in an instant. I looked at her in shock before I realized what a mess I probably looked right now, which must have caused her to ease up on her pressuring. I blew out a breath in relief and tried not to tremble too much as I smiled weakly at her. She sighed again and apparently decided to drop the conversation. "Get some rest," she commanded. As she turned to walk away, almost as an afterthought, she glanced once more in my direction. "Don't worry about the swords. They'll all be replaced."

I only allowed myself to relax when she had completely left the hanger. Even then I couldn't stop thinking about the conversation I just had and how dangerous it was. I resolved to never let my guard down in front of her again. Still, at least the conversation was over for now.

"Shirou." Damn. I forgot about Houki. "Shirou… are you okay? Do you need to go to the infirmary?" she asked, clearly distressed.

"No. I'm fine, Houki. I'm just going to walk around for a bit and relax." I tried to comfort her but my mind was just swirling too much right now. I needed to be alone, needed to think. I set out on a random path to the spacious grounds of the school where I could wander and think for a while.

I let my feet take me in random directions through the Academy grounds as I replayed that conversation in my mind. Chifuyu-nee was an experienced fighter, but the way she instantly took apart my entire fighting style was beyond anything I had expected of these IS pilots. Was I looking down on them so much just because nobody died in their matches? Calling this brutal competition a sport seemed like a bad joke now. These women, at least the professional ones, were warriors. Of course they would recognize when someone who should be a complete amateur did things he shouldn't have been able to.

It's not like they could just pull up footage of the Grail War and say 'oh, that's how he learned to fight.' There are no records of me fighting anywhere since I never did competitions in either kendo or archery, and Fuji-nee, who was my adviser for both activities, would know nothing about this. The end result is that I have no excuse. I have skills that I shouldn't have ever learned. In hindsight this was such a glaring, obvious thing that I wanted to kick myself for not realizing it earlier. I had been treating this whole excursion as an annoyance instead of a serious problem and that had just come back to bite me in the ass.

Enough grousing. I needed to come up with a solution, not focus more on the problem. What would Tohsaka do in this situation? Oh. Duh.

I took out my cell phone and dialed her number. If I'm too much of an idiot to figure out the solution myself then I'll just call for help. I counted the number of rings and sagged when it went to the answering machine. It looked like she wasn't home. Oh, right, it's still actually the middle of a school day so she'll be at school. I left her a quick message with details as vague as I could, just in case the IS I was wearing was listening in to all my conversations. Having just witnessed the results of my carelessness I wasn't eager to repeat the experience.

With that done I headed back to class. Just knowing that Tohsaka would be able to call me back and help me out took a load of my chest, since I had always valued the more experienced mage's advice. Hiding your magical abilities is the first thing a proper magus would learn so I knew she'd have a solution for me, or at least something I could work with. Plus, with a little time to cool my head I realized I wasn't in as bad a position as I initially thought. The school wouldn't be able to find out anything about the Grail War and they couldn't find out about my magic unless I actually used some. Even though I had messed up it wasn't a fatal mistake. I'd just have to be more careful in the future.

A lot more time had passed in my inner monologue than I had thought but I could still catch the tail end of class if I hurried back. If anyone asked about my absence I'd just respond that I was stressed out after my first match and needed a breath of fresh air. It was true, of course, just not for the reason they'd be thinking.

*break

The next day at breakfast I was quickly surrounded by all the girls in my class and dragged over to a large booth they had apparently set up. At first I was confused, but then I saw the large sign hanging over the table reading 'Congratulations on your first victory, Class Rep!' This was obviously a celebration. Did they do this after every successful match? And besides, the loser of the match is here too, isn't this in bad taste?

"Congratulations on becoming the class representative, Shirou-san." Rather than being offended Cecilia looked happier than just about anyone else. Wait, when did she start calling me by my first name? Is she less formal now because we fought each other? "Uh.. thanks?" I managed. The beaming faces of twenty-odd girls were starting the make me nervous. "Well, don't you look happy?" Houki comments. She seems to be the only one here who doesn't feel like celebrating. Was it because of what she heard yesterday?

"Hi hi, this is the newspaper club! Can we get a shot of you, Mr. 'I don't like hitting girls?' Preferably with Alcott-san as well," a girl I had never seen before suddenly demands. That was strange. How did she know what I said during the match? "Your face is asking how I know about what you said!" the girl exclaimed, causing me to rock back in surprise. "Your IS has speakers built into it, you know? Anything you say can be heard by your opponent and the spectators. That was quite a passionate speech you made, and the school is going crazy! Some girls think it's romantic, others think it's chauvinistic! Would you like to comment?"

Whoa whoa, this girl was talking so fast I barely had time to register what she was saying. Before I could even form a response Cecilia butted in, positioning herself between the excited reporter and myself. "Shirou-san is just a gentleman! Sure, his ideas might be laughably outdated and completely unnecessary but his heart is in the right place! Why, I'm positive that he wouldn't hesitate to fight seriously if his opponent asked! He only wouldn't hit me because... well... you know..." she started fidgeting. After the passionate start to her speech it looked like she became embarrassed by her own outburst, darting a quick glance at me before letting her eyes drift to the floor.

"Is that true, Emiya-san? Would you fight seriously if your opponent asked for it?" the reporter asked, seizing on Cecilia's comment. This question was a trap. Even I could tell that. To an Academy full of strong girls who considered themselves warriors my attitude was most likely offensive. I knew this because that's exactly what Saber had thought, and she had no reservations about telling me so.

Still, these were my ideals. "The thought of hitting a girl makes me sick to my stomach," I reply, causing some of the girls around me to gasp. Still, I hadn't spared with Saber and Fuji-nee for nothing. "But that is not my decision to make. If a woman wants to consider herself a warrior then I will deal with her like a warrior. I will not look down on IS pilots."

That last part was true. I still had absolutely no desire to hurt any of these girls, but I could no longer dismiss them either. Chifuyu-nee had shown me that yesterday. Surprisingly all the girls around me nodded their heads in approval as the reporter hastily scribbled down my comments on some high-tech looking thing. I never could tell what girls wanted to hear. At least this interview seemed to be over, the girls of my class casually shooting 'we're trying to have a party here' looks at the still unnamed reporter. Taking the hint she asked for a picture before she left, the whole group of girls cramming as close to me as they could before she finally took the damn thing.

"Ahem. Now then, Shirou-san. Perhaps you could tell us what fighting style you use? I've never seen an IS use a bow, let alone a wooden spear or steel shield." Cecilia, why do you always say things that get me in deeper trouble? Houki bit her lip and stared at the table, letting me know exactly what she thought of this conversation. I was much calmer than I was last time, though. Although it wasn't perfect I had worked out a solution with Tohsaka's help for this very dilemma. Having a chance to use this excuse before my inevitable follow-up conversation with Chifuyu-nee might actually be a good thing. I took in a deep breath and attempted to look as calm and casual as I could.

"I learned it from a television game," I said with a nonchalant smile.

Tohsaka had assured me that young people these days played violent television games, so picking up an odd fighting style from one of them wouldn't be unusual at all. In addition there were so many games on the market that they wouldn't be able to track them all down and disprove me. It wasn't perfect, but it was something nobody would be able to dispute, which was the main thing.

"Um... Emiya-kun. Did you mean a video game?" a tentative voice asked from the crowd. Uh-oh. I was pretty sure Tohsaka had called them television games, but I was getting strange looks from all the girls. Was there a difference between a television game and a video game? Steady, Shirou.

"It could have been a video game, come to think of it. I played both when I was a kid, so I might have gotten them confused." Good job, play it safe and pretend like you're uninterested instead of uneducated.

"...Shirou. If you don't want to say, that's fine. Don't lie to me," Houki said. She was glaring at me, clearly angry. She wasn't the only one, either. Nearly every girl there had an expression of mild annoyance or confusion, letting me know quite clearly how badly my excuse had gone over. Cecilia and Houki seemed especially angry, probably because Houki had seen me dodge the same question earlier and Cecilia because I had just attempted to lie about the skills she had faced directly.

I thanked every god that might possibly exist that I hadn't tried to use this excuse on Chifuyu-nee first.

"Sorry everyone. I don't want to talk about it right now." My apology seemed to mollify the crowd somewhat but I had no doubts at least some of them would continue prying later. My life was apparently interesting enough to warrant a newspaper article, after all.

The mood of the party quickly bounced back with twenty energetic young girls asking me questions about my life, eating the well-prepared cafeteria food and just generally chatting with each other. After the small party ended classes continued like normal, and despite my fears Chifuyu-nee didn't treat me any differently than she had before. I even managed to concentrate on my studies despite the worried voice in the back of my head urging me to get a hold of Tohsaka and figure out a better excuse as soon as possible.

Finally the last class of the day rolled around. This was a practical lesson, held in one of the many arena-like spaces in the Academy's grounds, and as a personal IS holder I was roped into giving demonstrations with Cecilia. Chifuyu-nee barked orders at us to perform various aerial maneuvers, showing our less experienced classmates what they would be doing once they were deemed eligible to actually pilot an IS themselves. I was quite a bit slower and less sure of my movements than Cecilia was, though that was pretty natural. She had been a pilot far longer than I had, and this was only the second time I had used Senken as well.

"Emiya. Why don't you show everyone what your first shift looks like?" Chifuyu-nee suggested. Well, the term 'suggested' implies I had any way of refusing her, so that might be misleading. It was more like she demanded it of me while somehow still putting a question mark at the end of her sentence. Not like I had any real reason to refuse. I was curious myself to see what shape my IS would take, so I brought up the command and activated my first shift.

The first thing I noticed was that nothing had changed. My suit was still the dull gray it had arrived in, with no changes to the overall design or structure itself. I was about to check if the suit was even in first shift when a new message popped up, informing me of something called 'unlimited replacement.' Curious, I started scrolling through the text, reading with increased amazement just what my machine was now capable of. After my first match had destroyed a significant portion of my armaments it seemed someone was determined that I never run out of swords again. Each and every weapon I had previously asked to have included in my list now had a number next to it, signifying how many copies of that weapon were ready to be accessed.

In other words my IS would independently swap out damaged weapons for their whole counterparts without any input from me. I was startled for a second when I actually saw one of those numbers increase as I was scrolling through the list. Someone _really_ wanted to make sure I'd never run out of swords.

"Shirou-san. Aren't you going to activate your first shift?" Cecilia asked, hovering off to my right. "I did. The appearance didn't change but I got a new ability. My specs seem to have improved a bit as well, mostly in stability and balance," I respond. Most of my classmates look disappointed with the lack of impressive visuals that the other IS seemed to possess, but I was happy with the design. It was practical, functional, and the dull color wouldn't stand out against the stadium background. Exactly what I was looking for in my machine.

"Let's continue with the lesson," was all Chifuyu-nee had to say about it. That suited me just fine. I don't really like being a spectacle, though it seems I couldn't escape that fate as much as I'd like. The rest of the paces Chifuyu-nee put us through weren't very difficult and the class soon came to an end. That was something I was grateful for, since I left my phone in my dorm room and wanted to call Tohsaka as soon as I could. Her last piece of advice was pretty terrible but I was hoping she'd have something better for me this time, since I still had nothing myself.

*break

"Shirou. Would you... like me to make some dinner for you?" Houki asked. I looked around our spacious dorm, wondering what she was talking about. We had a kitchen, sure, but it only came equipped with a refrigerator and a microwave. There wasn't much she could make me with that, right?

She must have sensed my hesitation, as she looked down and started to blush a little. Oh, I get it now. She's worried that I won't like her food, right? As a cook myself I understood just how good it felt to have someone enjoy your cooking, so I wasn't about to take that away from her. "Sure, I'd love something. But how do you expect to cook without a stove or oven?" I ask. Houki was a lot more technically proficient than I was, so maybe she had some way of using a microwave that I was unfamiliar with.

"What do you mean, Shirou? We have those."

I blinked in confusion. "In our kitchen? I looked for those the day I moved in. We only have a microwave."

She shook her head slowly. "It's a fold-out kitchen, Shirou. Weren't you told that during your initiation?"

As a matter of fact, yes. I had no idea what a 'fold-out kitchen' was so I assumed it was code for 'a kitchen that doesn't have the essentials.' My face must have betrayed my current thoughts as Houki gave me yet another of her now common 'why don't you know this, Shirou' looks. It's not my fault. I'm just not good with all this modern stuff.

The younger girl led me into the kitchen and proceeded to take off one of the counter tops. Fascinated, I watched her rearrange a dozen or so pieces of the kitchen until a stove, oven, rice cooker, cutting board, and various utensils were revealed in the small confines of the kitchen. I couldn't believe it. There was a real kitchen hidden here the entire time! I couldn't even contain my enthusiasm, grabbing Houki's hands and looking into her eyes. "Houki. Thank you so much for showing me this."

She immediately turned red, trying to say something but only producing a babble. I continued staring into her eyes and her blush deepened. She really does get embarrassed when people thank her.

I remembered that she had offered to cook for me and felt a twinge of disappointment. While I desperately wanted to start using the kitchen right away I had neither the ingredients nor the familiarity I'd need to properly go about it, so I relinquished the room to Houki. I resolved to stay and watch her so I could see how these high-tech versions of ordinary appliances worked before trying them myself.

….

Houki is a bit clumsier than I thought. She's given herself a few minor cuts and burns making a fairly simple Japanese dinner, though she seemed to know all the steps already. I had to stop her a couple of times as she mixed up condiments and almost added the wrong ingredients as well. That must have embarrassed her a bit, poor girl, since she was almost beet red the entire time. "Sh-Shirou! Do you have to watch me so closely?" she finally demanded over her shoulder.

"Well... it's not that I have to, but I really want to. I'll stop if you want me to." That was only fair. I was used to Fuji-nee and Sakura watching as I cooked but Houki was a pretty shy girl to begin with, so this might be a little too much for her.

If anything Houki turned even redder at that comment, but she stammered out "It-it's f-fine. You can watch if you want," and turned back to the stove.

As I saw her preparations nearing completion I set the table for the two of us. The food itself was well made despite the difficulty Houki seemed to have in preparing it, reaffirming my earlier guess that she was just nervous being watched. "This is delicious," I said. It was always proper to praise people when they offer you their food. Houki blushed a deep crimson, causing me to smile. This girl really had a weakness to being complimented.

"If-if you like it I can do this more."

"Oh, that's a great idea! We can take turns cooking meals for each other. I've got just the thing for tomorrow's dinner."

Houki seemed surprised by my sudden announcement. "You're going to cook, Shirou?" It wasn't that strange of an idea, right?

"I've been living more or less on my own since my foster father died, so I naturally learned how to cook. I really enjoy it now. There's nothing more satisfying than having people enjoy something you made for them."

I expected Houki to agree with me, but her face paled and she looked decidedly uncomfortable. She looked about to say something, paused, and finally shook her head. "If that's what you want to do," she finally answered. I was a little worried by that odd reaction, but my head was already buzzing with excitement. Without any way to really relax I had been building up tension ever since I came to this academy, but now I could finally blow off some steam and make some good food as a bonus! Things were finally starting to look up.

***chapter end**


	4. Chapter 4

I showed up a few minutes before class started and spotted my target amongst my classmates. Strolling confidently over to the only blonde in a sea of black hair, I pointed directly at her as she looked up at me.

"You're coming to my room tonight. I'll show you what a Japanese man can do." I exuded confidence. There was no doubt in my voice that she would accept my demand. It was Cecilia herself who brought up this cooking feud after all. I finally had a chance to show her just how amazing Japanese cuisine could be.

All twenty of my classmates shouted 'kyaaaaaa!' at the same time, the unexpected noise almost deafening me. What the hell? Was I missing something here? I turned to Cecilia again, not quite grasping the situation, but found that she was in an even worse state. I've never seen anyone blush that much before, her normally pale features painted a deep red as she seemed to struggle for breath. As I caught her eyes she snapped her gaze down onto the floor, refusing to look at me.

I had definitely done something wrong. The girls in my class were going crazy, and I even spotted two of them sprinting out of the room in opposite directions with determined looks on their faces. What did I do wrong? Glancing again at Cecilia I could see she was about to cry which immediately made me decide to apologize for whatever it was I did.

"I'm sorry... was I too forceful? I just knew that you would enjoy it and got a little too carried away..."

Before I could even finish apologizing the girls all let out another screech even louder than the first. This time, however, the sound was punctuated by a pair of hands slamming down on a desk. Houki rose from her seat shaking with anger, leveling her scathing gaze at me. "Don't you have any shame, Shirou?" she cried, looking more furious than I'd ever seen the normally calm girl. "How can you invite a girl over when I'm living there too?"

This confused me even more. I really wished all the other girls would just quiet down so I could think for a second. "What are you talking about? You're going to be participating as well, Houki," I practically had to shout over the din in the classroom. I had talked about this last night, right? That I'd be making dinner for us tonight? Sure, I didn't specifically mention inviting Cecilia over as well but I didn't expect such a strong reaction from the quiet girl.

The shrieking and giggling from my classmates somehow increased in volume yet again, and it took me a second to realize there were dozens of girls standing in the hallway outside the classroom now, adding their own voices to the background noise. Okay, just what is going on here? I looked back at Houki to see the color draining from her face as she stumbled back into her seat, looking lost and a little dazed. A swift glance at Cecilia revealed she hadn't lifted her gaze from the floor yet. Oh boy.

I turned around to face the class and other assorted spectators directly, determined to fix everything that I had unknowingly made a mess of. Right as I opened my mouth to start, I felt a gentle tugging at my shirt sleeve, prompting me to look over my shoulder and observe Cecilia still looking resolutely at the ground, trying to get my attention. Maybe she would finally reveal what all this commotion was.

"Sh-Shirou-san..." her voice so was so quiet I found myself unconsciously leaning in toward her. "Okay... but you'll have to take responsibility." She was so quiet that I'm sure I was the only one who heard her. Of course I'd take responsibility. I'm the one inviting her over for a meal so naturally I'll be as good a host as I can.

"He's going to have sex with the two of them!" a voice shouted over all the commotion, snapping me out of my conversation with Cecilia. That's a terribly crude thing to say in class. Just who in their right mind would have sex with two... oh. I suddenly realized that I might not have done the best job establishing the context during my announcement. Everything in the past two minutes came crashing down on me like a ton of bricks- the extreme reactions of Houki and Cecilia, the whispered comments between girls, the gathering crowd... oh damn.

I had just sullied the reputations of the two girls I was closest to in this school because of my idiotic phrasing. Damn damn, how do I fix this situation? Think, Shirou! Use your brain for once and fix this mess before-

"Back to class!" an authoritative voice barked, startling the whole group of girls outside the classroom. Chifuyu-nee strolled through the collapsing throng of girls as they tripped over themselves getting out of her way. The timid Yamada-sensei trailed in her wake and the two stepped into the classroom, quieting all the whispered conversations immediately. My chance to clear up this terrible misunderstanding had just vanished. There was no way I could try and take class time from Chifuyu-nee to explain myself so I was stuck like this until the first break. I shuddered to think what rumors would be going around the school before I had a chance to clear my friends' names...

*break

I don't think I succeeded. Somehow Cecilia and Houki accepted my logic after repeated attempts to explain myself but even then Houki glared at me all day and Cecilia seemed more off-put by my apology than my earlier proposition. Still, the two of them showed up for dinner, which I counted as a success. If I couldn't apologize with words I'd do it with food!

The two girls sat at the table, pointedly ignoring each other as I prepared all the ingredients I'd need. They must still be angry at me for all the commotion I'd caused for them. That's only natural. A girl's reputation is an important thing, doubly so at this all-girls school. I decided there wasn't much left I could do, already having apologized as much as they would listen to, so I set to work creating a meal that would let them forget their worries.

Japanese cooking was the way to go. It would both calm Houki with its familiarity and show Cecilia that I really had intended this all along, hopefully wrapping up the last bad feelings of this situation and clearing the atmosphere for a personal discussion. Dismantling the odd covers around the compact stove I set to work chopping, peeling, grilling, baking, seasoning, _crafting_ my ingredients into a finished meal. Despite the tense atmosphere I found myself humming a nonsensical tune, too wrapped up in the first meal I've cooked in weeks to pay attention to anything else. It cleared my thoughts and let me feel at peace.

As the final ding of the oven went off I retrieved the last part of my assembled dinner, ready to take it out and eat. Rather surprisingly both girls in the living room had their attention entirely fixed on me and the dark atmosphere from before seemed to have completely vanished. Rather, the two of them looked almost giddy smiling at me, or in Houki's case frowning less noticeably. Maybe they had a talk while I was engrossed with cooking?

"Dinner's ready," I called, bringing out the first few dishes. Miso soup, white rice, grilled fish and cooked vegetables soon covered most of the table the three of us were eating at, though I was worried I might have made a little too much due to simple absent-mindedness. Houki looked over my offerings and nodded once. I started explaining the proper way to eat a Japanese meal to Cecilia who looked enraptured by my explanation, and then the three of us started eating.

"This is wonderful! Who knew the Japanese could make something so delicious?"

Told you so. "You're welcome here anytime. I'm already used to cooking for large amounts of people." Normally I don't offer to host people so easily but even I'm a sucker for praise, especially when the girl is eating my food with such gusto.

"...I must admit I didn't think you'd be this good. I'm impressed." Whoa, even Houki has something nice to say. Wait, come to think of it, was this the first time she directly complimented me?

"Shirou-san, you'll be a good father someday..." Cecilia started, but trailed off as I looked to her. She blushed and looked to the floor before continuing. "I mean, you're strong and a good cook and you'll have a good income as an IS pilot, so whichever girl you marry will be really lucky."

That must have been pretty embarrassing for her to say as she steadily grew redder through the whole comment. Still, there were a few things I should correct before I let the conversation continue.

"I don't plan on ever being married or raising children, and I'm not going to be an IS pilot either." I don't know if it was the absolute certainty in my voice or something else but the two girls immediately looked up at me in surprise. "I'm going to continue chasing my ideals. Just because the government wants me to be a pilot doesn't mean I'm going to listen to them."

"What do you mean you're never going to marry?" Um, Cecilia? Was that really the important part?

"I'd just be a burden on my family. What I want to do is dangerous and there's no telling how long I could even stay with them, let alone if I could provide for them." Somehow I didn't think I should mention the part where I might die at any time chasing my ideals.

"Just what do you plan on doing, Shirou-san?" Cecilia, we really need to have a talk about asking questions I don't want to answer. Still, this conversation wasn't going to get anywhere unless I did.

"I'm going to be an Ally of Justice," I said without any doubt. It was the only path I could take, the path my father left for me.

"...what," the two of them said in unison. People always reacted like this. Cecilia looked at me like I was crazy while Houki's eyes widened, no doubt remembering all the times I'd talked about it during our childhood.

"Shirou. Are you serious?" Apparently Houki didn't believe me when we were kids.

"Dead serious."

I could tell neither of them knew what to make of my chosen path. Cecilia was trying to decide if I was joking or not, judging from her frown, and Houki was simply glaring at me like she thought I was making fun of her or something.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Shirou-san, I don't know much about Japanese culture but I'm pretty sure 'Ally of Justice' isn't a real job."

I sighed and shook my head. I've already told them this much so I might as well explain my whole reasoning. "When I was caught in the Fuyuki City fire I was sure I was going to die. Even as a child I understood that no matter what I did or where I went I couldn't escape the hell I was in. All the people around me dying and crying out for help they would never receive were proof enough of that. Except I didn't die. My foster father saved me, me alone out of all the hundreds of people dying around me."

I was going to continue but jerked to a stop as I looked up and saw the faces of my guests. Easy, Shirou, you're supposed to be entertaining them, not depressing them. "Well... long story short I decided I would strive to save everyone. So that's why my life will be filled with danger and uncertainty."

Nobody said anything for a while.

I frowned as I realized neither of them were eating my food anymore and pointedly picked up a serving dish. "Does anyone want seconds? We still have a lot left."

"...Shirou. I'm sorry."

"Me too, Shirou-san. I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

Wow, these two have gotten awfully depressed. As a host I'm failing miserably. "Don't worry about it, nobody believes me when I tell them the first time. I'm glad you've accepted it but please don't feel bad. I'm not offended, honest."

I wasn't sure what would cheer them up but I couldn't let my long-awaited meal end like this.

"If Shirou-san wants to be a rescue worker then I will support you! Know that I, Cecilia Alcott, will help you however I can!" Wow, she really bounced back.

"I will support you too," Houki added. It seemed like the girls decided to apologize with actions instead of words, but really, I wasn't offended or anything. Still, it's best to take things like this seriously.

"Thank you both. If I need you, I won't hesitate to ask."

That seemed to do the trick. The two girls immediately smiled at me, letting me know that was the correct response after all. See, Tohsaka? Even I can understand girls sometimes. (An image of Tohsaka shaking her head and calling me an idiot flashes through my mind, but I ignore it.)

The rest of the dinner went quite smoothly, the three of us talking about trivial things and eating my food. This was a nostalgic feeling... only a little more than a month ago I'd have invited Tohsaka, Sakura, Fuji-nee and Ilya over for dinner at my home and had a meal like this. The scene was so peaceful I found myself nodding off at the table, something I'd normally never do. I've just been so stressed lately...

"Um, Shirou-san? Are you not feeling well?" a voice startles me out of my impromptu nap.

"No, I'm fine. It's just... being here, with you two, is really relaxing. I'm really glad you decided to come." If these two could remind me of home so powerfully, did that mean I was getting used to living like this? Without my magecraft, without my dear friends who I viewed like family? Shaking my head I focused on the present. My path was not lost to me; not everything I did here was a waste. "Would you two like to continue doing this? Cooking for three people isn't much harder than cooking for two, since Houki and I will be making meals for each other anyway-"

Slam! Cecilia brings both her hands down onto the table, causing me to jump in surprise as the slender girl glared at me with burning eyes. "Of course I would!" she declared without hesitation. Wow, I guess that was pretty persuasive on my part if I fired her up so much. Or maybe she just liked the idea itself? In any case, our little band would be meeting up for dinner from now on.

I'd be making all of our breakfasts, though. While I begrudgingly accepted that Houki had a right to cook too, seeing as this apartment was as much hers as it was mine, there was only so much kitchen time I could comfortably part with. Houki herself went to the school cafeteria for meals despite knowing how this kitchen worked for weeks, so she had given up her claim on breakfast in my eyes. She seemed adamant about sharing dinner, though, so I had to give her that.

"Hmph... if Shirou says so." Why is Houki mad? Is it because I invited Cecilia without asking her? A little socialization with your classmates would do you some good, Houki, no matter how shy you are.

"Then it's settled. After our kendo and IS practice we'll meet back here for dinner," I said, making sure everybody was on the same page.

"IS practice... oh! In that case, allow me to accompany you in practice as well! It is my duty as a representative pilot to make sure our class rep is the best!"

Is that really part of her duty? There must be a lot more to being a representative pilot than I had initially thought. "In that case, I look forward to training with you," I replied. Getting in the way of her duty might get me in trouble with England or something, and Houki could use another practice buddy as well.

Much to my surprise, Houki seemed to grind her teeth at this announcement. "Fine! But you'll only do kendo with me, Shirou!" she shouted. Was this something to get so worked up about? "Of course, Houki. You're in charge of teaching me kendo," I said, trying to placate her. This seemed to cheer her up a bit, but Cecilia started to frown this time. Was I missing something again?

"Well then, I should take my leave now. Thank you for having me over, Shirou-san, Shinonono-san. I'll see you tomorrow." With that the proper young lady stood up, bowed, and made her way out.

I turned to Houki. "Alright, let's get these dishes cleaned up. It's getting late."

With a nod she started helping, the long day finally over. I just hoped the rumor mill had quieted down already, though I expected a few rough days ahead. Still, with all the cooking I had to look forward to I wasn't nearly as depressed as I would have been otherwise, even if it was the cooking that started the trouble in the first place. I sighed again, preparing myself for what would come tomorrow.

*break

A few days later things had finally calmed down. The upcoming Class Representative Tournament was displacing all the rumors about my supposed sexual activity, though I wasn't even sure that was an improvement. I was the one who had to deal with this ridiculous tournament, fighting girls younger than me with horribly dangerous weapons designed to kill.

The first girl I had to face was the representative pilot from China, Huang Lingyin. Her IS's specs were currently unknown, though it was reportedly a third-generation model capable of matching my own custom machine in raw numbers, and most likely had a few special abilities or weapons as well if my general IS knowledge proved correct. She was the only one outside of my class that had a personal IS, which meant her piloting skills were probably top-notch if her government trusted her so much. From what Cecilia and Houki tell me she seems to be the second-favorite to win the tournament, after myself for some reason.

All in all it wouldn't be strange if I lost to her, which was exactly what I was planning to do.

I had no interest in winning this tournament and even less interest in striking the girls participating in it. If I could gracefully bow out in the first match against a tough opponent I would take that opportunity and run with it, especially considering none of the other girls in the fight would be able to defeat me. It was lose against Huang-san or win the tournament, and it was obvious which one I'd want.

The day of the tournament was really coming too fast.

*break

The day of the tournament came way too fast. The last few days felt like the blink of an eye, and I still didn't want to go through with this. If I had any other option I'd take it, but Cecilia wasn't interested in being the class rep anymore and everyone had their expectations pinned on me. I'd have to at least give a good showing for myself before I went down. The only problem was how to conceal my dive from sharp people like Chifuyu-nee... well, I didn't think I'd fool her no matter what, but there were others who would be much more vocal about things if they knew I had thrown the match. If I wasn't careful I might even get Huang-san implicated, and I didn't want to see her get in trouble because of me.

Even with all that said I didn't have a plan. I simply didn't know enough about my opponent's machine or fighting style to be able to come up with a realistic way of losing this match, assuming I was capable of defeating her in the first place. She had my data, after all, if she chose to watch my earlier battle with Cecilia. Hopefully she'd just be good enough to beat me on her own.

I did plan on getting 'surprised' when she brought out her tricks, though. Just for good measure.

After concluding all of this I stepped into the hanger, checking my IS to make sure it was fully functional. I wanted to lose, not die. Houki and Cecilia were both there to help me prepare and I felt a pang of guilt knowing the two girls would be sincerely rooting for me. They had been very energetic during our training sessions and I hated to think of all their hard work and enthusiasm going to waste on someone like me.

"Shirou-san, are you nervous? Don't worry! After being trained by Cecilia Alcott you have nothing to fear!" Her reassurances just made me feel worse, but I plastered a smile on my face anyway.

"Thanks. For everything. I'll... be going." Damn, it was hard to say something to the expectant faces of these girls.

"Emiya-kun! The match is starting now. Please enter the arena," Yamada-sensei's voice called out over the loudspeakers. With that as my cue I powered up and flew out into the battleground to the roaring cheer of the crowd. This match, like the previous one I had faced, was only available to the students and faculty of the school but the turnout was much larger. Every student had a classmate participating, after all, and they all had a small stake in the outcome, so the stands were filled with what was probably every student in the entire school.

I could see Huang-san's personal machine, Shenlong, rising from her own hanger opposite to mine. We still had about a minute before the match officially started, so I wasn't too concerned when she flew up only a few meters away from me.

"So you're the male IS pilot, huh? You kind of look like an idiot."

After a second to process her statement I broke out into laughter, shocking the tiny girl who was clearly trying to be antagonistic. "Haha... sorry, you have no idea how many times I've been called an idiot. And by someone who was named Rin as well," I added, knowing her nickname. After worrying about this match so much the first thing she says to me is that I'm an idiot? It was almost like I was back home.

"Why- why do you look so happy? I just called you an idiot!"

I shook my head, not knowing how I could explain myself to someone who's never met Tohsaka. "Sorry. Anyway, I will be in your care for this match," I stated, and took a bow in my IS. I knew it wasn't standard to do so but it just seemed like the thing to do. Huang-san raised an eyebrow at me but repeated the gesture, if not the words. Just then the timer counted to zero and the high-pitched alarm indicating the start of the fight went off, causing both of us to pull out our weapons.

I was surprised when Huang-san pulled out a massive scimitar that easily outweighed her a few times over, but realized that the IS must be doing all of the heavy lifting for her. Still, swinging around that thing would disrupt her balance quite a bit. I'd have to be careful not to take advantage of that. My own sword was a much more modest Japanese katana, though it was larger and heavier than a normal blade as well.

"I've heard you can fight... let's see how good you are!" she challenges, streaking toward me with her weapon raised. She isn't an amateur; that much is obvious. Her massive scimitar could probably shatter my much lighter katana if I tried to block her attack head-on so I deflect it instead, battering her swing to the left while simultaneously dodging to the right. The enhanced stability my IS boasted left me with perfect balance when I should have been reeling from the over extension I had just made, a fact that was made obvious to Huang-san as well when she viciously swept her weapon around, expecting to catch me with my guard lowered. When her attack met empty air she immediately pulled back and put her own guard up, though I hadn't moved to take advantage of her opening.

I was a little insulted.

"Huang-san... please fight me for real." I wasn't sure if she was looking down on me because I was a man or because she simply thought she was better than everyone else, but it was a little frustrating to be taken so lightly. I have fought heroes and monsters of legend and survived to tell the tale, so please don't treat me like I'm a total beginner.

She looked a little angry when I said that but I kept my eyes level with hers, showing her how serious I was. After a few seconds she said, "Sorry. Allow me to fight you for real!" Taking out a second scimitar she somehow fused the two together into a double-bladed polearm of some sort, spinning the massive weapon around to show her familiarity with it. This was more like it.

She charged again, though this time she slowed before reaching me and used her superior reach to her advantage. As she swung the polearm down into an arc directed at my face I parried the weapon again, only to find the second blade rocketing at my shoulder. I dodged a bit slower than I could have, allowing her to trail sparks over the shoulder guard of my IS before swinging an upward slash of my own. Another spin of her weapon allowed her long haft to catch my sword, stopping my attack and leaving me in a vulnerable position.

As the diminutive swordswoman smiled and prepared to dice me up, I let go of my sword and drifted back. She was so surprised by the move that she didn't even stop her swing, allowing me time to materialize and throw a spear at her exposed abdomen. The girl bolted sideways out of instinct, though the simple thrown projectile probably wouldn't have done much damage to her shields. It gave me time, though, to bring out my bow and prepare to shoot her in earnest.

As I notched an arrow and sighted down at her, I felt some sort of disturbance. Was it the wind? No, it was something else- she was doing something dangerous. My own instincts screamed at me to dodge, so I took my time and launched an arrow at her. I saw her triumphant smile before _something_ slammed into my chest, sending me reeling through the air, struggling to breathe as my chest burned. A quick glance told me my shields had dropped nearly in half after I allowed myself to take that direct hit, though I still didn't know what it was.

A second later I heard the explosion as my special-tipped arrow smashed into my opponent's shield. I had used an arrow specifically designed to damage an IS- it would explode on impact, doing the most concussive force in the widest area possible to maximize the damage it did to shields, while simultaneously making it the safest weapon for the pilot riding it, who wouldn't have to worry about dying if the damage went through like they would if it was a bullet. It was one of the few weapons I'd use against the person themselves instead of the machine.

Still, our trade-off had been in Huang-san's favor, as whatever weapon she was using wasn't so considerate to the enemy pilot. It did more damage to me than I did to her, despite both of us taking direct hits.

"What the hell? Who uses an exploding arrow!"

As we both regained our balance she glared at me, daring me to answer such an obvious question.

"I don't like guns," I respond simply.

"Hmph. It's nothing compared to my Dragon Cannon. One more hit from that and you're done!"

That was true. Was there a way I could guarantee getting hit by that again? I hadn't used Structural Analysis on her machine yet, and it seemed that unlike other weapons I didn't understand an IS just by seeing it. Come to think of it, my ability doesn't normally work on guns or other high-tech weapons, so why did it work on IS at all?

My thoughts on the subject were dashed when Huang-san came charging in again, swinging her polearm with an ease that made me appreciate just how much strength these IS had to give. I decided against using my magecraft on her machine; I didn't know what kinds of things the sensors in my IS could tell about me and I was already told that I was under intense scrutiny for piloting this machine in the first place. The less information I could give them, the better.

I parried her blows while steadily giving ground, trying to think of what I could do in this situation. Getting hit by her Dragon Cannon would be the best case scenario, since I apparently couldn't even see the attack, so I couldn't be blamed much for getting hit. But Huang-san seemed to want to focus on melee right now and it would be stupid of me to disengage when this was obviously safer for me...

A resounding crash echoed through the stadium as _something_ broke through the massive dome shields surrounding the stadium before plunging into the ground, kicking up a wall of smoke and obscuring whatever it was that just happened. My opponent and I both immediately stopped, sensing something was amiss in this situation. We both looked at each other, unsure of what to do, when a voice erupted over the loudspeakers. "The match is canceled! Emiya, Huang, retreat at once!"

Giant metal shutters started closing over the spectators, letting me know instantly that this was wrong. Whatever was happening here was putting people in danger if there were counter-measures being deployed, and I wasn't going to run away when people might be hurt.

"Emiya-san! Get back to the hanger! I'll buy you some time, so go!" Saying this Huang-san glides to the side away from me, and I hear the thrum of power as she charges up her ranged weapon.

"No, that's backwards- I'll handle this here, you retreat!" Like I'd fall back when an unknown enemy has charged in?

"Hah?" she turns to look at me.

"In front!" I yell, blasting my IS toward her as fast as I can. It was already too late- red energy lances out of the rapidly clearing smoke and slams into Huang-san, smashing through the remains of her shield in one shot, sending her hurtling backwards. I swore out loud and raced toward her before the _enemy_ could launch another attack. I saw the thing- it dispersed the dust clouds in front of it with its attack, affording me a clear view of its monstrous form.

I used Structural Analysis on this thing- it wasn't human. It was a weapon created to kill. Two massive, oversized arms with four glowing holes each were the only armaments the _enemy_ carried. Those holes could fire lasers like the Blue Tears I had fought earlier, but unlike the sporting weapons Cecilia used, these were designed solely to destroy, to annihilate everything in front of their path. The fact that they had pierced the stadium's shields meant these weapons were too strong for my IS to handle. Whatever else this strange IS was, it was an abomination meant to slaughter those less powerful than itself.

As I advanced to Huang's position I saw the beast's other arm line up, preparing to fire another quartet of lasers at her unshielded body. There was no way I could save her. Not with an IS.

Trace, on.

I felt my magic circuits warm up for the first time in a month. I recalled a shield in my mind, the tool that would save the life in front of me. I forced magic through my circuits, poured all of my mental strength into forging my shield and forcing it into reality.

The beast fired its blood-red lances of death at Huang.

"Rho Aias!" I cried, thrusting out my arm and calling my shield into reality. It wasn't the simple steel shield of my machine- it was the luminescent, four-petaled hyacinth of Aiax, a conceptual weapon that transcended the laws of reality. I couldn't reproduce it completely but even in its reduced state it was the strongest shield I had.

The beast's energy slammed into the iridescent flower, almost instantly shredding one of the petals completely off. I felt the burning in my body as the damage caught up with me, the only drawback of this powerful shield. As the shield was tarnished, so was my body. Reaching Huang I managed to catch her behind my barrier, noticing that she was still breathing and was nominally conscious, though she seemed dazed and had blood running down her scalp.

"Ow... what happened?"

This was bad. If the beast lost interest in me it could easily change targets to the helpless people in the crowd, so I couldn't hide behind my shield forever. It had already tried to murder Huang, after all, so its goal seemed to be killing people. But she had no energy to move her machine and I couldn't drop her- well, at least there was a solution to that.

I hurriedly took out my energy jack and jammed it into Huang's port, trusting my machine to follow my intentions. I needed absolute concentration to do the stupid thing I was going to do next. I tuned out the slight hum my machine made as it transferred my shield energy into Huang's IS, allowing her to pilot it once again at the cost of my own protection, and focused my mind on my next Projection.

I ignored the pain blossoming in my chest as another petal was incinerated by the beast's constant barrage, ignored the voice of the girl next to me as she babbled something, ignored the alarms in my suit alerting me that I had zero shield energy. I focused my mind of steel on a weapon.

The spear that killed me for the second time and introduced me to the horrors of the Grail War, the deadly spear of the great Irish hero Cú Chulainn. The demonic spear that promised certain death to its victims.

I held out my right hand and Projected the red spear into it. Another petal of my shield disintegrated, testament that my aggressor was content with attacking me at the moment. Pouring all of the magical energy I could into the spear, I focused on my enemy, the beast made of metal and wires that had come here to hunt. I could feel the demonic curse spewing out of the terrible weapon in my hand and knew it was ready to be used. The only problem was Huang.

I was still holding her up with my left hand but the energy transfer was complete, allowing her to fly once again. So I whipped my left arm around and threw her as hard as I could behind me, clearing up the path to my enemy and ensuring she wouldn't be hit again when my shield went down. I heard her yell something that sounded like "what are you doing, idiot?" but ignored it.

I arched my back, preparing my throw.

"GAE-"

I launched the javelin as hard as I possibly could, the immense strength of my IS rocketing the projectile faster than any mundane weapon could match. I dropped my shield so that my own counter-attack wouldn't be interfered with as the deadly flying spear smashed through the incoming lasers with ease, keeping me safe anyway.

"BOLG!"

The beast wasn't expecting an attack like this, or it might just have been too slow regardless. Without enough time to get away it simply threw an arm up in front of the projectile, trusting in its shields to keep it safe from the unknown attack surpassing the speed any IS pilot could match. Gae Bolg sheared through the beast's shields on impact, detonating in a massive explosion that clearly tore away its arm before the blinding light caused me to lose track of the machine.

My circuits were burning. I had stripped all the magic I possibly could out of my body for that attack and I felt the exhaustion now, but a primal part of me knew the enemy wasn't dead. When the spear started releasing its magical energy in the 'explosion' after impact, the supremely agile IS must have escaped at least partially intact. Still, its shields were down, and it was most likely running out of energy too by my best estimate. Even with no magic and my own shields gone I only had to trade killing blows with the thing.

"Emiya-san, what the hell was that?"

Huang reminded me that I wasn't alone. Through my pounding headache and burning lungs I gargled out something that could have been an answer, scanning the ground below me for any sign of the enemy. I reinforced my eyes, almost passing out from pain as I scraped my nerves bloody with all the magic I was using. There- I could faintly make out the beast hiding in the dust, ready to pounce on anything that came to attack it.

"Hey- are you alright? Your nose and mouth are bleeding..."

I managed to clear my head long enough to answer this time. "I'm fine." My own voice sounded hoarse in my ears. "I have to finish that thing off before it hurts someone."

"Thing? That's obviously an IS! I don't know who's piloting it, but I don't think they'd just attack people in the stands-"

"That's not a person. It's an unmanned drone." There was no doubt in my voice. After all, I had scanned every inch of that thing with my magecraft. "So I'm going to destroy it." That seemed to convince my impromptu ally, but she wasn't satisfied by my tactics.

"You don't have any shield energy! You gave me yours, so I'll finish it!" the young girl declared, and prepared to fly into the dust cloud.

"Wait! Use your ranged attack. It's waiting to ambush you, right there," I pointed to the beast's location, and materialized my massive IS bow. "Count of three?"

My partner nodded and we both aimed our attacks, my own Senken having transferred targeting data to her Shenlong. The beast was still crouching in its hidden position, acting eerily like a cornered animal waiting to ambush its aggressors. The two of us readied our attacks, though I was pretty sure her Dragon Canon could do the job by itself.

"One." I ran myself through the steps of traditional archery.

"Two." I pulled back on my armor-piercing arrow, ready to let fly.

"Three." I strayed a split second behind her shot, ensuring our two projectiles wouldn't interfere with each other as they streaked towards the unsuspecting beast. Through what I can only assume was superior reflexes the machine darted out of the path of our attacks, suffering only a graze from the combined ranged attacks we threw against it despite not seeing the origin of either shot. Surprisingly the beast turned and started charging at us instead of seeking refuge in the covering terrain below it, but it must have realized at least one of us could see through the dust and decided to attack.

"I'll get its attention, try to shoot it!" Without waiting for an answer I flew to intercept the charging drone, materializing a simple blade from my IS instead of Projecting something. I had a feeling I might seriously lose an arm or leg if I tried to Project anything else right now, so I'd stick with my machine's weapons unless I had to do something drastic.

"Geez... if something happens to you it's not my fault!" was the only answer I got as the small girl charged up her cannons again, waiting for me to give her a shot.

The beast's only melee weapon was its remaining arm itself, easily weighing a thousand pounds and capable of swinging through concrete walls with ease. Trying to block a strike from that would be like standing in front of a bus and trying to stop it with your body.

Luckily I have a pretty tough body.

As the gigantic arm came swinging towards me I dropped my sword and concentrated every ounce of my IS' power into my arms and thrusters, meeting the fist head on and smashing into it with all the strength I could manage. It was a stupid, suicidal attack that my opponent couldn't have predicted. It left me completely helpless as my unshielded body pressed up against the laser openings in its arm that could shred me in seconds.

It also, however, severely checked the beast's forward momentum, leaving it open and vulnerable to retaliation. My faith in my partner was immediately rewarded as I heard impacts pound into the beast's body, and my grip on its arm reversed as I struggled to keep it from _escaping _from me as it took blow after blow onto its main body.

Huang's brutal attack smashed the head completely off the drone, leaving craters in its torso and reducing its limbs to ribbons. I wasn't about to take chances though. As her firing trailed off I stabbed my armored hands directly into the thing's broken body and ripped its core completely out, ensuring for good that the enemy would never get up again. Huang and I watched in silence as the broken machine tumbled down to the ground and stayed there.

"Are you alright?" I ask, turning toward the Chinese pilot. She had gotten hit pretty hard there in the beginning and I didn't want her collapsing on me or anything.

"Look who's talking! You look half dead!" she shot back. I wasn't in a position to contradict her, since I knew my body was breaking down after using Projection to forge a demonic spear beyond my capabilities and powering it with more magic than I should have pulled from my circuits. Plus I had probably broken a few ribs when bashing myself against the thing's fist. And my body was damaged from losing three of Rho Aias' petals...

"Well, I've had worse. I'll live." Even without Avalon's mighty healing powers I still recovered much more quickly than a normal... human... oh no. Oh no. I had just used magic in front of hundreds of people and recording devices, hadn't I? No, wait, the emergency shutters closed before I used any magic so only Huang, who was with me, and the people with Chifuyu-nee in the control room saw me do anything. Of those only Chifuyu-nee was likely to know what I did came from me and not my IS because she was at least partially in charge of monitoring me, giving her access to my machine's specs and recordings.

Damage control time. "Chifuyu-nee," I opened up a private channel with her. "Could you perhaps not tell anyone anything until I talk to you? It's kind of important." I had to keep my conversation as vague as I could, since Huang was next to me here and I didn't know who was currently within earshot of Chifuyu-nee on the listening end.

"It looks like we have a lot to talk about," was her response.

*chapter end

Okay, a few notes. I'm using Rin's actual Chinese name since Shirou is pretty used to dealing with foreigners, and he doesn't know her yet so he's being polite and using her last name. He does drop the -san honorific after fighting against/with her, as he naturally tends to leave off honorifics when dealing with people he knows. She calls him formally because he's older than her, and he impresses her so she uses his name instead of calling him 'you' like she had been doing.

Second, it annoyed me in the original story how the supposedly competent teachers and third-year students couldn't get into the arena during the drone attack but Houki and Cecilia just get up there no problem. Why? If they found a route to get up there why didn't they tell the teachers, and why didn't the teachers get there first anyway? I always disliked that plot hole so I didn't have either of them show up in this fight- they're stuck just like everyone else.

Third, before anyone complains, the thrown form of Gae Bolg does _not _guarantee a kill, it's simply way too fast and powerful to be dodged or blocked normally. The unmanned IS used its gigantic arm as a sacrifice to escape the strongest part of the explosion, taking some structural damage and losing shields but remaining functioning.

Hope you had fun reading, and expect a lot of Shirou's household to show up in the next chapter for those of you waiting for more Nasuverse.


	5. Chapter 5

As I stared down the intense gaze of Chifuyu-nee I suddenly wished I had prepared better for this. There was no escaping this conversation now, not with everything I had just done. Still, certain things needed to happen first.

"Can we go somewhere nobody will be listening to us?"

"Of course. Follow me."

She set a brisk walking pace, her posture and composure completely rigid like she expected an attack at any second. Almost like a drawn sword ready to cut anything that came close. This wasn't the time to be making idle observations, I chided myself. I decided to clarify my earlier question. "I mean someplace that won't have listening devices either. This conversation is only for your ears."

She gave me a dismissive snort, like I said something stupidly obvious and she wasn't going to bother with a real response. Just trying to clarify, you know. A few minutes of walking led us to what looked like an interrogation room, with bare walls and only a table with two chairs occupying the cramped space.

"Talk."

Okay, I needed to compose myself before I said anything. Before that, though, I wasn't sure Chifuyu-nee had decided to honor my previous request.

"I'm just going to tell you right now- if anyone else ever hears this conversation, your family's lives will be in danger." Her eyes narrowed dangerously at me, and I hurriedly continued on before she killed me. "I don't know who you intend to have listen to this or how classified you think it's going to be, but if you've ever trusted me in anything you need to do so right now. _Nobody_ can hear this, and if you don't believe me now it will be too late once someone else has heard. So please."

She leaned forward in her chair, glaring at me with a gaze more intense than anything I've ever seen on a human. Eventually she said, "Hear that? Emiya doesn't want you listening in, Principal, Student Council President."

I knew it. "Can we go somewhere they won't be listening?" I ask. Even with my aching, damaged body I'd rather go somewhere safe than trust this room right now.

"No."

Well, that clears things up.

"Your IS is recording everything. The principal has more authority than me, especially in watching over you, so I can't interfere with that. I can guarantee only he and the student council president are listening, but I can't make them stop."

Damn. Well, if they were already listening then they were at least as sharp as Chifuyu-nee, especially since the principal seemed to be directly in charge of my observation. I didn't have time to figure out what kind of people they were, and if I didn't convince all of them not to share the footage of that battle right now then I was a dead man. Me, and all of my friends. I was much more worried about the second part.

"Fine. My only request is that you never share footage of me in that battle with anyone, ever. Don't tell your supervisors what I did and don't give anyone the data from my IS either. Pretend like it never happened and if anyone asks claim it was just something programmed into Senken."

Chifuyu-nee looked annoyed. "Why would I do that, idiot? I'm here to observe you and report on you." Trust Chifuyu-nee to get right to the point.

"Because if you do there's a good chance all of us and all of our families will die."

"You said that before. Who will be killing us?"

This was the hard part. How do I explain the Magic Association without ever explaining the Magic Association? I'm technically not even a member, since they don't actually know that I'm a mage, but I'm still bound by their rules because they'll kill me if they find out I broke them.

"I belong to a certain group. I'm only a fringe member, which is why I'm allowed so much freedom, but there are certain iron-clad rules I must follow. The first and most important rule is 'don't ever tell anyone about the group,' which I'm already halfway breaking. The only reason I'm telling you this at all is because you know I used weapons that didn't come from my IS. Well, those weapons are one of the benefits of belonging to this group." A rather roundabout way of saying 'because they're magic,' but still technically true. "If you spread that information around, they will notice. And there is only one punishment for revealing this group- they will kill you and everyone who could possibly know the secret and spread it, primarily your friends and family."

Chifuyu-nee was still glaring at me and I wasn't sure how much of this story she believed, but she kept silent and let me continue.

"You may think that telling just your boss is okay, but he will tell people and they will tell people, and unless the information I'm giving you stays in this room it will be found out. When that happens no protection in the world will keep you or your families safe. They are very, very good at keeping their secret. I'm telling you this because even something as simple as giving your bosses the video of that fight will get back to them and cause them to take action."

I explained myself as best I could under the circumstances and waited for their reply.

"That's all you're saying?"

"Yes."

I couldn't tell them any more. I was already reasonably certain that my warnings would be ignored so there wasn't any point in revealing magic directly and making the situation worse.

"So this 'group' you belong to will murder people just to keep its existence a secret? They give a fringe member like you weapons on par with IS-grade ordinance but tell you never to use them for fear of revealing their secret? They have spies in the Japanese government that will tell them when their secret is out? And you're saying that nobody knows about this powerful organization?"

Like I thought, I never want to tell Chifuyu-nee anything. She extrapolated the 'has spies in the government' just from my insistence that she shouldn't tell her supervisors about this, and it wouldn't surprise me if she knew a few things she wasn't revealing as well.

"Yes, that is correct."

"And you want us to cover up your mess so you don't get in trouble."

"Also correct, but more people than just me will suffer."

Chifuyu-nee was silent for a while, though I couldn't tell if she was just thinking or trying to kill me with her stare. I didn't have anything more to add, though, so it looked like we'd be in a staring contest for a while.

The door abruptly opened, revealing an old man and what looked to be a girl my age with a serious expression entering the room. I figured the old man for the principal, and from the girl's second-year school uniform I guessed she was the student council president. The two silent participants in this conversation.

Well... first things first. I stood up and offered my seat to the elderly principal.

"Oh ho... you've got manners, boy. I like that."

The principal took my seat with a slight grin, but the two ladies were as stone-faced as ever. I was slightly relieved to see that expression on the student since I wasn't sure how seriously she was taking this. At first glance she seemed to be appropriately solemn.

The old man smiled at me. "Emiya-kun. How's your health?"

Damn. This guy didn't waste any time.

"Let's see..." he began, taking out some sort of display and reading off it. "You have some slight nerve damage. Your body temperature rose dramatically, indicating a fever that lasted about ten minutes. You have some musculature tearing and some of your organs appear to be severely bruised. You also have a few ribs broken. A very impressive amount of injuries for someone who was only hit twice since this morning."

I didn't know what to say, so I kept quiet.

"Although... hm, yes, I see. It looks like you took this considerable damage when you had your mysterious shield and spear deployed. Was your 'group' trying to kill you off already?"

"...That's just the cost for using those weapons." I wasn't going to say any more.

I heard a slight snap and turned my head to the previously silent student council president as she audibly closed her folding fan. "The question I want to ask is this: If you knew it would put people in danger and damage your own health, why did you use those weapons in the first place?"

It was such an obvious question I spent a few seconds trying to discover some hidden meaning behind it. When I couldn't, I just answered like normal. "Huang would have died if I didn't, and I couldn't be sure that beast wouldn't target the crowd as well. I had to."

None of the expressions facing me relaxed in the slightest, but somehow I felt a small bit of the tension in the room give way. Chifuyu-nee followed up with the next question.

"You called the IS a beast, and earlier to Huang you told her it was unmanned. How did you know that?"

"..."

The principal spoke up this time. "Emiya-kun, there are a few more things I want to ask. Do you know why you are the only man alive able to pilot an IS?"

I tried to keep my face neutral but I'm pretty sure I twitched anyway.

"Do you work for Phantom Task?"

I definitely kept my face blank that time, since I had no idea what he was talking about. "No, I don't." Might as well answer that one honestly.

"Do you intend to ever harm any of the students here?"

"What? Of course not. Why would I do that?" I briefly wondered what kind of image the old man had of me.

The principal nodded and relaxed his posture a bit, waving a hand at Chifuyu-nee to take over for a bit. "It seems I've run out of questions our young student here will answer. Do you have anything left?"

Chifuyu-nee shook her head. "I don't know what he's gotten himself into but I'm relieved this idiot still can't lie. He really did just do something stupid to save someone. He was always like that."

The principal turned to the student, who hadn't said anything apart from her first question. "Any more questions you'd like to ask, Tatenashi-kun?" She appeared to be brooding over her fan at me, though I was getting tired and my eyesight was a little hazy now.

"Just one. At the end of the fight, you cornered the enemy by grabbing onto his arm with your whole body as your partner defeated it. If it had decided to focus on killing you instead of trying to escape, would you have died?"

"Probably," I admitted.

She nodded once, as if that told her everything she needed to know.

"Well then," the principal started, turning back to me, "there's only one thing I'm confused about. Why did your group send you to the IS Academy, Emiya-kun?"

It took my fuzzy mind a few seconds to process his question. "...what? They didn't send me anywhere. I don't matter to them."

"Oh ho... you're saying this secret, super-powerful organization with spies in our government isn't using you, a pilot in a school for training students to use the strongest weapon in the world, for any purpose?"

If I had been more alert and not half-asleep with fatigue I probably wouldn't have answered as stupidly as I did. "They don't care about IS or technology, they only care about-" Damn. That was close. I need to pay more attention to what I'm saying... but my brain isn't working well right now. I'm just too exhausted and injured to keep up with this nerve-wracking interrogation.

"So you're saying those weapons you used weren't advanced technology?" Chifuyu-nee, please stop being smart. Really, they say ignorance is bliss, right? Give it a try sometime.

I opened my mouth to reply only to find that my brain had nothing to offer. What could I even say at this point? These people have extracted way too much information out of me. Anything else I tell them might reveal my secrets outright, so I clamped down on my tongue and prepared to completely ignore their questions.

"When he gets like that he won't answer any questions." Thank you for the speedy observation, Chifuyu-nee.

"Well then, perhaps it is time that I informed you of a few things, Emiya-kun. We don't actually have any superiors, you know." My mouth must have dropped open in shock, though I was too tired to even close it. "Although our funding is provided by the Japanese government this institution is essentially exempt from all national laws and constitutions, excepting those that deal with the dissemination of IS technology. In other words, I am my own boss."

I'm not sure what my face looked like at that moment, but the principal smiled before continuing. "We will have to report on this incident as it concerned an IS, but anything you did 'outside the range of normal operations of an IS' is none of their business. You have been very adamant about us keeping that information to ourselves, so we won't be..."

His voice started to fade, but I realized that was because my own hearing was shutting off. With the relief that washed through me at his words I no longer had the ability to force myself awake.

"...but we will need a bit more information regarding your... oh dear, Tatenashi-kun, would you mind catching Emiya-kun? It seems he was a bit more worse for wear than I had thought."

It felt like I was suspended in a sea of clouds...

"Heh. He's got a pretty cute face when he's not all scrunched up and angry looking."

*break

"Sakura, no fair! I wanted to take his temperature!"

Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard Ilya shouting with her usual energy. I must be dreaming at this point since the excitable young girl was most definitely back in Fuyuki City, and the last place I remember being was that awful interrogation room.

"That won't work, Ilya. Sakura won't budge an inch when she's forced. You have to make deals with her at this point."

Now I was hearing Tohsaka for some reason.

"Okay, got it! Sakura, let's give Shirou his sponge bath together!"

This was starting to get decidedly uncomfortable for a dream. But I wasn't seeing anything other than the insides of my eyelids... could this possibly be real?

"Please get the water and sponges from the nurses, Ilya-chan. We'll start right away."

Why is the soft and steady voice of Sakura right next to my head? And what's with that dangerous thing she's saying?

As I opened my eyes and blinked in the dim light, I could vaguely make out humanoid shapes next to my bed. As my blurry vision started to clear I heard Ilya exclaim "Yay, Shirou's awake!" It really was her- and next to me I could see long, beautiful hair that told me Sakura was here as well. I could already guess that Tohsaka was the one standing nonchalantly to the side over there.

"Good morning, Senpai. Are you feeling alright?" Sakura's soothing words reminded me so much of home that I couldn't tell where I was, though I didn't even recall when I fell asleep.

"Grak blrg" I attempted to say, before I realized my throat was parched and stiff from disuse. Just how long had I been sleeping?

I could hear Sakura giggling beside me, which instantly calmed my heart and removed any sense of tension I had. "I'll go get the sponges. Wait here, Shirou!" Hello again, tension. "

Wait!" I called, my voice responding to the emergency. "I can take a bath myself!" Ilya stopped skipping out the door and turned to me with a disappointed expression.

"I was going to give you lo~ts of service, Onii-chan. Are you sure you don't want it?"

Her expression caused my heart a little anguish but I needed to be resolute in this situation. "I'm glad you're thinking of me, Ilya, but I can bathe myself." It just wouldn't be appropriate for the young girl, not to mention Sakura, to do something like that while I was awake. Not that I'd be okay with them doing that when I was asleep.

Although she pouted, Ilya obediently stopped her crusade for sponges and returned to the empty chair at the side of my bed. I briefly wondered which bed I was in since I didn't recognize the room, but simple common sense told me I was most likely in the infirmary, having fallen unconscious from the strain I caused myself. Gae Bolg is not a weapon to use lightly. A quick glance around the room confirmed my guess as I made out various medical devices and machines, though many of the odd-looking devices were far more high tech than I remember from the hospitals I had been in before.

"You picked a good time to wake up, Emiya-kun. A few minutes later and I'm not sure your chastity would have remained safe." Tohsaka grinned at me as I gave her a scowl in return, her idle comment hitting a little too close to the mark.

"How long have I been sleeping?" I ask her, knowing it must have been several hours at least if my household managed to get all the way here from Fuyuki. Her grin faded a bit, a more serious expression taking over.

"You've been out for around ten hours. We haven't been told anything except that you were a little injured in a match, though from what I gather your injuries were more serious than they should have been. Did something strange happen?"

I could hear what Tohsaka was trying to say- 'How did you get so injured and why are all your magic circuits exhausted?' There wasn't a whole lot I could tell her, though, not with the IS currently curled around my wrist listening to everything I said. "It's a boring story. Mostly I was just stupid and pushed myself too hard, though it didn't go nearly as badly as I feared."

Coded message sent. Tohsaka was more than smart enough to figure out what had happened with just that statement, which was good because I didn't plan on explaining anything to Sakura. That girl had a tendency to get overprotective of me whenever I got hurt regardless of the circumstances. Even as I thought that I could see the slight disapproval crossing her face, and I knew exactly what she was about to say. "You shouldn't push yourself so hard, Senpai. Those IS fights are quite dangerous."

Even if I had wanted to argue I knew she wouldn't budge an inch when it came to my perceived safety, so I just agreed with her. "Yeah, I'm sorry. This won't happen again, Sakura."

"Ehh, why not? They only let me come see you when you get hurt, so as long as you don't die it's fine! Besides, then you get me to nurse you back to health, right?" Ilya added, an angelic expression on her face. I know you're lonely, Ilya, but don't you think that's too harsh? "Hm... on second thought, I can't just let people go around hurting my Shirou. The idiots here don't even know how to heal anyone, so if I'm not nearby it might turn out badly." After amending her previous statement, Ilya turns her sweet smile on me once more. "Don't worry, I already fixed you up this time!"

My mouth went dry. I knew that with Sakura here she wouldn't have done anything visible or audible like actually chanting a spell, but I had no doubt Ilya was the reason my magic circuits were already healed. I had no idea how or even if my IS could interpret that with all the monitoring equipment permanently trained on me but I was really, really not looking forward to finding out. At least Tohsaka undoubtedly convinced her not to heal my physical wounds, as I could still feel some pain from those.

It wasn't Ilya's fault, of course. I had never explained to her, or anyone in my household, just how much surveillance I was constantly under. There wasn't anything I could do about it and it would only make them upset, so nobody but Tohsaka really understood my situation. Still, no point in being angry with the little girl. She had done the right thing with the information she had, and more importantly she had tried to be a good girl. I'd be a poor older brother if I couldn't honestly praise her.

"Thanks, Ilya. You're the best nurse I could ask for." As the little girl beamed I caught the edge of a disapproving frown from Sakura. "And thanks, Sakura. I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble." Sakura's familiar kind smile returned, and I felt at peace once again. Really, is there anything the smiles of these two can't fix? I wasn't finished, though. "Thanks, Tohsaka. I appreciate you coming out of your way like this."

"Hmph. I couldn't let my little sister or Ilya come out here to this half-military base by themselves. Fujimura-sensei was with them, but she went off with her friend so I had to stay and watch over everyone." It's just like Tohsaka to brush off gratitude with a line about obligation. Wait.

"Which friend did Fuji-nee go with?"

"Chifuyu, I think her name was? A little while after we all got here and saw you were alright she pulled Sensei away, though I gathered they hadn't seen each other for a while."

I shook my head. There wasn't anything inherently suspicious about two old friends catching up after being separated for a long time, but I still had a bad feeling. Not like I could do anything about it.

"There were also some impudent women here but we made them leave," Ilya added. Before I could switch my thoughts to this new track I saw Sakura's mouth tighten into a thin line.

"We insisted on being the ones to care for you, and after a little persuasion they agreed we were more suitable." I was a little afraid to imagine what she meant by 'persuasion' since I knew exactly how hard-headed both Sakura and Ilya could be. Who were they talking about, anyway? My friends from class probably, Houki and Cecilia almost certainly. I decided not to pursue that topic any further than I had to.

"By the way, how did you three get here? According to the student handbook I read only my actual guardian should have been able to get in." Now that I thought about it, how had these three passed the various security checkpoints that made sure only authorized personnel were inside? Even though I could easily imagine Tohsaka brow-beating some poor guard into granting them entry I doubted security would be that lax, especially after the incident that just happened.

"I just told them that I was coming to see my Onii-chan and they let us in," responded Ilya. Was that right? They shouldn't have done so, but maybe one of them was soft for a young girl's pleading.

"Yes, as soon as they looked into Ilya's _eyes_ they opened up right away," Tohsaka added.

Ilya had used her mystic eyes on the guards to let them in? Okay, now I was screwed.

"Ilya... how many guards did you 'convince' to let you in?"

"Mm, three or four? Don't worry, Shirou! No matter how many guards they put in my way I'll always come to see you!"

I couldn't help but smile. Ilya had so innocently wrecked my position that I couldn't even get mad at her.

The door to my room opened, and I immediately caught sight of Fuji-nee's bright clothing. Right after her came Chifuyu-nee in her usual somber black attire, the two contrasting visually the same way their personalities did. "Ah, Shirou, you're awake! I knew you'd be fine but these girls kept telling me we had to visit, so here we are! Not that I didn't want to come see you, mind, it's just that I didn't know if I should encourage an expedition like this when everyone has school tomorrow."

I wasn't paying attention to what she was saying, choosing to focus on Chifuyu-nee instead. Her face betrayed nothing, as usual. "So we should all get going back! We have a long train ride home and we all have to get up tomorrow, so we don't have time to dilly-dally."

I could tell Sakura intended to stay just by her slightly rigid posture, and Ilya couldn't care less about school when something interesting was going on. Before those two could protest I quickly sided with Fuji-nee. "That's right. I'm just going to go to sleep again, so there won't be any point in staying here. I don't want you to miss school on my account. I'd feel terrible."

"Eh... well, if Shirou says so. But you better come visit us soon! There's no point in going over your house if you're not there, and it's boring without you!"

"Senpai, don't hesitate to call on me when you need anything. I'm free every weekend," and from the way she stressed the last two words I knew I'd better come home for a weekend really soon. I should have done that already, I was just too caught up in everything happening here.

"I'll visit as soon as I can, this weekend if I can swing it." I promised them.

"See that you do. There's a few things we need to talk about as well, Emiya-kun."

With that last threatening promise from Tohsaka, the four girls who I considered my family walked out of the room. Leaving me alone in the lion's den.

"You seem to be recovering quickly, Emiya."

I couldn't tell if that remark was directed to my healed magical circuits or due to the fact that my own natural healing was just barely on this side of humanly possible, but it didn't matter because in either case it wasn't something I could help at this stage so forfeiting this fight was just practical. I gave her a slow nod, trying to collect my thoughts before engaging in another battle with the unfairly intelligent woman. If I wasn't worried about implicating Tohsaka I would have called her back right then and there to take my place. If there was anyone in the world I'd pit against Chifuyu-nee in a battle of wits it would be my own genius teacher, but doing so would open up another can of worms by itself.

"Thank you, Orimura-sensei. I'm usually very healthy, so quick recovery is one of my strong points."

"I can see that. You must have healed that very large scar on both sides of your chest very quickly, judging by how old it is. And you haven't missed any large periods of school recently, so it must have healed over a single weekend. How remarkable."

As I should have predicted, an extensive medical examination of me revealed the old wound Lancer had given me at the start of the Grail War. The large, obvious sunburst scar on my chest couldn't be explained away casually, since there was a matching scar on my back as well.

"Two different scars." Even I didn't believe myself when I said it, so I was sure Chifuyu-nee remained unconvinced as well.

"We thought so initially as well. But after some more... careful examinations your doctors found scar tissue directly on your heart and some of the arteries connected to your heart too. Even the top medical professionals we employ were at a loss as to how that would happen without some severe injury that would have left you crippled for months. Care to fill us in?"

Could I say it was from the fire? No, they'd have my medical records from then. Actually, due to the yearly high school medical checkups every student has to undergo they'd know what year I'd gotten this injury, so there wasn't any way to lie about the time frame at all. Could I lie about the injury itself? No, she said the doctors here examined it in depth, so they'd know if I said something wrong. She'd really backed me into a corner this time.

I continued this internal conversation for several minutes with Chifuyu-nee just staring at me, waiting for my response. Finally, I just sighed. "No, I can't say why. It's just a mystery."

Chifuyu-nee narrowed her eyes, though I doubted she had expected an honest answer in the first place. "I don't like mysteries, Emiya. I'm going to solve it, and I had better like the answer."

That was possibly the most direct and frightening challenge I've ever received, Servants included. Without waiting for a response she turned and left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

"Shirou, are you awake?"

Well, maybe not so alone.

"Houki?"

The timid girl peeked into the room, looking around like she was afraid of something. Seeing nothing but me she sucked in a quick breath and entered, strolling more or less confidently to my bed. "What happened to your guests?" Ah, she must have been one of the girls chased off by Sakura and Ilya.

"My family? They left a few minutes ago. I'm sorry if they caused you any inconvenience."

"Ah, no, that's okay... what do you mean, family? I thought your family..." She trailed off, not wanting to complete the thought.

"Yeah, they're not related to me or anything. But Fuji-nee has been watching over me for a while, and Sakura and Ilya are like younger sisters to me... and Tohsaka helps me out a lot, too. So I think of them like my family."

Houki breathed out a sigh of relief and turned a genuine smile toward me. "Those girls were just your family... of course, that's good. Having family is good." Her smile was almost radiant now. It was a little touching the way she felt so happy for me, though I guess my earlier blunt assessment of my foster father's death had left her thinking I was all alone or something.

"Shirou-san, I heard you're awake now!" a voice called into the room. A second later Cecilia's cheerful face came into view, her delicate hands holding an apple and a peeling knife. Her cheerful expression faltered when she saw Houki next to me, but she quickly recovered and joined the two of us. "I have heard of the Japanese custom to peel and feed an apple to the sick, so I thought I'd consider local customs and try it..." she said, blushing a little. Oh, it was pretty commendable of her to practice local customs like that. It was hard to believe this socially conscious girl had been outright insulting our culture only a couple of weeks ago.

"Thank you, Cecilia. I appreciate it."

Her face seemed to glow at the comment as she busily started peeling the apple. Houki opened her mouth to say something but a third voice interrupted her from the hallway. "Um, is this Emiya-san's room?" A short, slender girl with two pigtails poked her head inside, and it took me a second to recognize her.

"Huang?"

"Ah, Emiya-san! I just wanted to... you know... thank you for earlier. You saved my life. That IS would have killed me for sure if you hadn't put that flower-thing in front of me."

I smiled from the bottom of my heart. "Don't worry. I was glad I could save you."

The three girls in the room all blushed slightly at my words, but I guess that's a pretty embarrassing thing for a normal person to say. "Ah- ehem," the tiny girl started, "Just a casual thanks won't be enough for something as serious as this. So don't worry, I'm going to pay you back! Just wait for it!" I wasn't sure exactly what I was waiting for but it's best to always just agree with girls when they get like this.

"Of course. I'll be waiting."

Instead of what I expected Huang blushed deeply, then turned around and bolted from the room. "You better be!" she called, then disappeared down the hall. Scratching my head I wondered just what the little energetic girl had in store for me, but I dismissed the thought. I'd find out soon enough. In the meantime I had two concerned visitors I needed to pay attention to.

"Open your mouth, Shirou-san. I'll feed them to you," Cecilia stated, blushing. Man, the girls around here sure do blush a lot. I wonder why? I opened my mouth and Cecilia put the little sliced apple piece into it, taking out the toothpick she had used to hold the piece up as I started to bite down on it. Normally I'd be against doing something as embarrassing as this but the English girl seemed to want to try out our local customs, and I'd be doing my country a disservice if I refused her honest request.

As soon as the whole apple was gone Houki immediately stood up. "It's late. We should go, Alcott-san. Shirou needs to rest." She seemed angry about something, though I didn't know what it was. The blonde girl, on the other hand, was flushed and smiling almost absent-mindedly. "Hm? Oh, yes, that's right. Shirou-san, I'll come again tomorrow, okay? Sleep well!"

The two girls left, leaving me alone at long last.

I had a lot of things I needed to think about.

*chapter end

To all those reading this, thanks for sticking with my story so long. Next chapter introduces my personal favorite IS girl, though I'm trying to spread the love for all the girls as much as I can. This is about the point where the story completely diverges from IS canon, by the way. Only a few things that happened in the anime or light novel will also happen in Infinite Swords, so I hope you're looking forward to original plot development!

Also, in case my writing is a little confusing- Shirou isn't a part of the Magic Association, and the only three people in the world that know he's a mage are Ilya, Sakura and Tohsaka, though Shirou doesn't know that Sakura's a mage. He's gotten some magic training from Tohsaka, mostly to help him open more magic circuits, but he's primarily been self-training in magic. The only abilities he has are Reinforcement and Projection, after all, so he just has to practice to become better at them.


	6. Chapter 6

Note: Shirou's Projections can only stay in the world for a short time. If you're not super knowledgeable on the Nasuverse, the short version is that the natural laws of the world reject something as unnatural as 'something created from nothing' and actively tries to destroy that thing. So Shirou's awesome swords only exist for a short while, a few minutes to a few hours, before disintegrating.

***chapter start**

The two weeks of my recovery passed by uneventfully. Cecilia, Huang, and Houki all dropped by every day to spend some time with me, though they usually ended up squabbling with each other if they came at the same time which happened more than I thought it would. On the two weekends during this time I faithfully traveled back to Fuyuki like I promised, spending some time at my long-neglected household and keeping Ilya company. I wasn't surprised to learn that Sakura had kept my place spotless during my absence. Really, that girl does too much for me.

Chifuyu-nee, the principal and the student council president, who I learned was named Sarashiki Tatenashi, occasionally stopped by as well to patronize me or try to wriggle a few more secrets from me but I'm pretty sure I didn't give them any more ammunition this time around. Not that they probably cared, since they seemed busy looking into the info I had already let slip, but still. I was getting better.

My recovery was seen as spectacular by my doctors and nurses while sarcastically commented upon by my three antagonists but there was no reason for them to believe magic was involved, as it was completely theoretically possible for an extremely healthy person to heal that quickly. Nobody here had ever actually _seen_ someone recover that quickly, but it was possible. So my release from the two-week hospital and house confinement was met with a large party thrown by my classmates and what looked to be half the entire student body, returning me to my new school routine once again. My first day back was a little surprising though.

"I'd like to introduce two transfer students to this class today," Yamada-sensei's voice called over the usual morning chatter. Everyone immediately stopped their conversations to look at the flustered young teacher, and for once I was in harmony with the class. Two transfer students a month and a half into the school year, and both in the same class? I wondered what was going on.

A short, blonde boy with very effeminate features walked into the room first, followed by an even smaller girl sporting long, silvery hair that trailed out behind her. To say they were unique would be doing the word a disfavor. The boy looked like royalty- he reminded me of Saber in his bearing, how he held himself, how he walked with confidence and grace that belied his young age and carefree expression. Whoever he was, he had spent a great deal of time learning how to carry himself.

The girl was noticeable for an entirely different reason. With straight, precise steps that brought her exactly where she needed to go without a single second of wasted movement and an eternally straight back that left her looking permanently at attention, she reminded me of a soldier. No, not like a soldier- like a wound spring ready to explode in any direction at a moment's notice. It felt like any attack directed against her would be met with lethal force in return. Her left eye was also covered with an eye patch, so I assumed she had lost it at some point due to combat. In any case she let out a strong 'I'll kill you' vibe that spoke volumes to someone with as much combat experience as me.

"My name is Charles Dunois. I come from France, so I hope you can help me in this country. I look forward to studying with all of you." As expected the prince-like boy had impeccable manners. He even bowed, a custom he wouldn't be used to in France but something he did purposefully to relax the natives here.

"Kyaaaaa, he's so pretty!"

"Another boy! We got another boy in our class!"

"Can you really pilot an IS too?"

It seems like I wasn't the only one impressed with the young man.

"Quiet down! Class is in session!" A single order from Chifuyu-nee had the entire class silent in a matter of seconds. "Continue with your introductions," she ordered the pair of new students.

"Laura Bodewig." The silver-haired girl looked like she was done talking after that two-word introduction.

"Ah... is that all?" the easily flustered Yamada-sensei asked, clearly concerned with how things were going.

"That is all." Laura seemed to have as much economy for her words as she did her actions.

Even the other new student was giving her a strange look but I actually appreciated the bluntness. She reminded me more than a little of Rider, now that I think about it. She had the same cold, distant beauty and almost alien indifference to everything around her that didn't immediately pertain to her objective as the black-clad Servant did. Rider had tried to kill me though, and more importantly had almost killed hundreds of people just to make herself more powerful. So hopefully Laura was a bit better than that.

"Everyone suit up. Today will be joint practice with class two. Arena three!" Chifuyu-nee barked out her orders and started leaving the room, not bothering to explain the details to the new students. Yamada-sensei trailed after her still looking lost, which left me in charge of showing Charles the ropes. Not that I minded. I always liked to help out whenever I could.

"Dunois-san. We should leave the classroom so the girls can start changing- we have to head down to a locker room connected to the arena." The young man nodded and followed me out, delicately closing the door behind him.

"I'm Emiya Shirou. If there's anything you want to know about the academy don't hesitate to ask, though I've only been here for a month and a half myself." I'm sure Charles would be a little hesitant to make acquaintances with the overwhelming majority of the student body being girls so I decided to at least accompany him until he got situated properly. It wouldn't be very nice to let him fend for himself here.

"Thank you, Emiya-senpai. I'll be in your care from now on." The bright young man beamed at me, an angelic smile that contained no malice. Hm... I guess I am technically an upperclassman, even if I'm stuck in the beginner IS class. Nobody before seemed to care about the normal academic classes though. Was he just being courteous, or did he place less value on the IS like I did? Come to think of it, if he's a boy too then he was most likely forced to come here after showing IS aptitude. Wait a sec.

"How can you pilot an IS if you're a boy?" I ask. Much to my surprise Charles started flailing around, looking panicked and struggling for words.

"What- what about you! You're a boy too, how do you pilot it?" Oh yeah.

"Uh... I guess I'm just compatible with it?"I hazarded an answer.

"Me- me too! I just happen to be able to use an IS! Ahahaha!" Nervously laughing, Charles quickly spouts an obvious lie and looks away from me. Well, that was stupid, Shirou. I can't even answer the same question, so why did I ask it? I put away any thoughts of prying into this boy's secrets, since I knew I hated it when people tried to pry into mine.

"I see. So, what do you think about the IS Academy? Did you actually want to come here?" He looked pretty relieved that I stopped my previous line of questioning and faced me once again, trusting me to lead him down the correct hallways as we chatted.

"I don't really have a strong interest in IS," the young man admitted. "But on top of me being a boy, I'm the son of a famous IS manufacturer so I don't really have a say in the matter."

Oh, that's rough. Even if we both somehow escaped being locked up in this academy he would probably be stuck doing the same thing at his home, while I at least had a different path I could take. "Well, I'm not too interested in IS either. After graduating I'm hoping to return my machine to the government and follow a different vocation. But it's not all bad here." Am I just depressing him now? "By the way, I hold an informal dinner every night in my dorm with some friends of mine. You're more than welcome to attend. Oh, but before that we've got lunch, right? I usually eat with a bunch of other students in the classroom so you're welcome to join that as well."

"In your dorm... did nobody tell you? I'll be living with you starting today." The surprise must have shown on my face, causing Charles to giggle. "Well, if there are two guys here than we shouldn't share a room with girls, right?" That made perfect sense, actually.

"Do you need help moving then? I'll most likely be helping Houki move out already, so a little more work won't kill me." Honestly I was a little upset nobody told Houki she'd be moving out before the end of the day, but she didn't have that many belongings and the rooms were all made the same way so it wouldn't be a terrible hassle.

"Could I trouble you to do so? I wouldn't normally ask but my transfer was quite sudden and I couldn't bring in anyone to help..." You don't have to look at me with eyes like that, I already agreed to help.

"It would be my pleasure. Don't hesitate to ask anytime you need something."

Finally reaching the locker room I pointed at the door, making sure I had Charles' attention. "This is the only place on campus where we're allowed to change. It's annoying, but the only bathrooms outside our dorm are in here too. The rest of the school is exclusively for the women and you'll be in a lot of trouble if you forget that." My little speech wasn't quite what Chifuyu-nee told me, lacking the usually tactlessness of the stoic teacher, but I hoped it conveyed the point. I didn't want the bright young man to get in trouble over something simple like this.

"I understand. Thank you, Emiya-senpai."

Leading him in I showed him the row of lockers I usually changed at, pointing out where the showers and toilets were and the exit onto the arena's grounds. "Well, that's pretty much it. We should hurry and change though, we've only got a few minutes left before the lesson starts and Chifuyu-nee is really strict." I matched my words with actions and started pulling off my shirt, but a quiet gasp made me stop and look up. Charles was staring directly at the large sunburst scar on my chest, a blush slowly creeping up his face.

"Ah, sorry. I sometimes forget how ugly my body is."

"Nonono, it's not ugly! You look really s- ahem." The young blonde coughed into his hand, gathering his thoughts. "You have... a very mature look. It's not ugly at all."

His words didn't seem to match his actions as the boy fidgeted, turning red and keeping his eyes down. Well, I didn't really mind if he thought my scar was embarrassing. "More importantly we still need to change." We had lost almost a minute with that exchange, so even if we changed quickly we'd have to sprint there now. I hurriedly faced my locker, stripping off my pants and underwear while pulling my strange, skin-tight IS clothes on. As soon as I turned around I saw Charles ready to go as well, so I started running toward the exit. "We'll just barely make it at this rate!" I yelled, with Charles sprinting after me.

Just as I predicted we barely made it, the two of us gasping for air next to our curious classmates. "Everyone's gathered so I'll start the lesson. Emiya, Alcott, Huang, Dunois. As personal machine holders you'll be in charge of showing your peers how to perform some maneuvers today."

Catching my breath I quickly summon Senken after Chifuyu-nee issued her orders. However, a strange menu popped up right after I activated it. **Connect to secondary power source?** That was odd... Senken didn't have a secondary power source. Was there an outside generator or something in this arena? Without any more information I just asked about it. "Orimura-sensei, should I connect to the secondary power source here?"

The teacher looked at me strangely for a second, then nodded her head. "Try it out," she ordered. I clicked on the **Yes** button and-

Fire Fire Fire Fire Fire was burning through my fingertips Fire Fire Fire running up my legs Burning Burning Burning Burning my lungs were burning I couldn't breathe Fire Fire Fire Fire Fire Fire Fire Fire Fire running through my nerves molten lava coursing through my veins Fire Fire Fire Fire

"Shirou? What's wrong, Shirou!"

Lava pouring through my skull it hurts it hurts my organs are melting Fire Fire Fire burning away my nerves burning away my flesh burning away my blood Burning Burning Burning

"Emiya, shut your IS off right now!"

My bones are cracking my blood is boiling Fire Fire raging in my gut burning my eyes can't see can't see my eyes are dead Burning Burning Burning my chest is burning my chest is burning my spine is melting Fire Fire everywhere my body is melting

"ARGHHHHHHH"

I had to push the fire out Trace On it was burning my lungs I couldn't breathe molten lead was sitting in my throat my fingers my legs my spine I forced my magical energy through my own body push it out push it out push it out

**Connection Complete.**

"Grah-ark"

The pain receded. No, could it even be considered to be lessening? My whole body felt like it was burning. I didn't have the energy to lift a single finger, my face pressed into the dirt with swords scattered all around me. Where was I? My hand twitched as I tried to push myself up, my IS answering the command and putting force into my arm by itself. Staggering to my feet I found myself on the opposite side of the arena than I had been, the whole class shouting things at me that I couldn't comprehend.

I coughed up blood. No, it didn't come from my lungs- at some point I had bitten my tongue though I couldn't even taste the blood in my mouth. My sense of balance was completely shot so I just gave Senken the command to hover in place. I blurrily realized all the swords littering the ground were my own, so another mental command had Senken recalling them to its alternate dimension again.

"Emiya-kun, are you alright?" Yamada-sensei cried, dropping down next to me in her own IS. I think I tried to say something but my voice wouldn't come out. My body was still burning... no, not burning. I recognized this pain. This was what happened when I stripped more magic from my magic circuits than they could handle. No, this was the pain when overloading my circuit- it was still being overloaded. Energy was coursing through my circuits constantly. Why? I wasn't sending any magic through them.

"Emiya-kun, I'm taking you to the nurses office, okay?"

"No." My voice came out. Whatever else happened I didn't want those damn doctors poking around my body again. Not until I figured out what was happening myself.

"Eh? But- you're hurt..." she said, looking ready to burst into tears.

I shook my head, able to move somewhat freely again. I dismissed Senken and felt all the energy coursing through my circuits abruptly cut off. What the hell? No, I understood it perfectly.

I could channel Senken's IS energy directly through my circuits.

Was this what it meant by 'secondary power source?' That's impossible. There's no way it could access my magic circuits. Even if they interacted with my physical body they still existed deep inside my soul, nothing should be able to reach them there...

"Emiya."

Oh damn, here's Chifuyu-nee.

"Why did your IS just try to kill you?"

I'd really like to know that myself. Still, I didn't need this right now, and thanks to Tohsaka I knew what to say in this situation.

"Because you told me to say yes," I replied, my voice thankfully unwavering.

That did the trick. Chifuyu-nee immediately clammed up, glaring at me like she was daring me to say one more thing to her. She was the one who told me to do something that turned out dangerously, and even the excuse that she didn't know what would happen made sure she'd still be responsible for the results as the teacher in charge. She couldn't punish or question me any further in this without taking responsibility herself.

"This was certainly my fault. I shall take full responsibility. Now tell me what the hell just happened."

Maybe I should have considered the possibility that the straight-laced Chifuyu-nee wouldn't back down from something like that. Well, might as well tell her some of the truth.

"I'm not entirely sure. If possible I'd like to take a break from class and rest in my dorm for the remainder of the day."

This whole exchange with Chifuyu-nee had taken about ten seconds, leaving Cecilia, Huang and Houki plenty of time to run up to me.

"Shirou! What happened?"

"Shirou-san, are you okay? Do you need help?"

"Emiya-san! What was that all about?"

Chifuyu-nee looked irritated, knowing I was going to evade all her questions about this as much as I could while my friends unknowingly ran interference for me. "Fine. Get some rest. You can sleep peacefully knowing we will use all available resources to find out what happened here."

That frightened me a bit. I still wasn't sure what I hell I had been doing but at some point my magic circuits all opened up which couldn't be a good thing. At least she was letting me get some rest though. My body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and I needed to figure out just what my combat suit did to me.

"Dunois," the teacher called out. "Help Emiya to your room. Make sure he rests."

"O-okay!" the young man squeaked, gliding over to my position and offering me a hand. "Ca- can you walk? Do you need me to carry you?" Charles looked like he was afraid of me, not that I could blame him. "No, just an arm is good. Thank you."

After he dismissed his IS the blonde gentleman accepted my arm around his shoulder and the two of us set off back to my dorm. Our dorm. I regretfully realized I wouldn't be helping him move, at least not today. "Sorry, Charles."

"Eh? Ah- what for?"

"I can't help you move like this, and you had to miss your first day off class for me. Even though I said I'd help you it looks like I'll have to break that promise." Causing people to suffer because of me is the exact opposite of what I want to achieve in life, which is the worst feeling in the world for me.

"No, don't worry about it. You can't help it after... that." The way he said 'that' made me a little curious.

"Just what happened? What was I doing?"

Charles looked a little troubled but eventually told me. "You started screaming... you flew around for a few seconds clutching your head, then swords started appearing all around you and you slammed your head into the ground a few times. Are you really okay? Does that happen a lot?"

His concern was admirable and I was glad I didn't say or do anything incriminating, so my mood lightened up a bit. "No, I'm fine. That's never happened before and I doubt it'll happen again."

"I... see. That's good."

"Here's our room. Thanks for helping me."

The young man looked like he was about to ask me something but quickly shook his head. "You're welcome. Get some rest, okay?"

I opened the door and gratefully collapsed onto my bed, but I didn't have time to sleep. Not yet. Not until I figured out just why my machine could connect to my magic circuits. It wasn't like it could form a ritual with me like Saber did-

Back up. Isn't that exactly what it just did? My mind raced as I tried to recall what was necessary for two people, or at least beings, to form a magical contract with each other. First, both parties needed to be compatible with the energies of the other. That looked like a check- I had already felt Senken's energy flowing through my circuits and I knew for a fact I could use my own magic on the machine. Second, they had to form a bond. Whether that was through sex, like me and Saber, or another way it had to be there. Considering the device was permanently monitoring my body inside and out and that I knew every inch of Senken through my structural analysis of the machine, that was also looking like a check.

The last ingredient was the actual sharing of prana. Now that I think about it, didn't Senken just blast the inside of my body with its energy directly? Wasn't that why I felt like I was melting from the inside? My body didn't reject the IS energy as easily as it would another mage's prana, evidenced by how easily it had flowed into me. If I had actually run my own prana into my body to push out Senken's perceived assault the two energies would mix... completing the contract. Holy Hell, Senken was now my familiar.

How did that even work? I knew the machine was semi-sentient, apparently to the point that it could initiate a magical contract, but how much could it independently do? It now had access to my magic, after all- the contract would be two-way since the machine itself specified a 'connection' between our two energies. Could it now monitor my magic use? No, how did it know how to connect with my magic in the first place?

There was just too much I didn't know. Even if I understood the machine 'perfectly' through my structural analysis I still couldn't read the damn thing's mind. Having a will of its own meant I couldn't read its thoughts, though I knew how it had them. Maybe if I was some sort of computer genius I could analyze its coding to the point where I could understand its thought process, but I was still woefully technically deficient so there wasn't much hope for that.

Still, there were some things I could figure out if given enough time. The first and most important question was whether or not Senken could now detect my magic, though I wasn't sure that would actually work against me in any way. After all, if Senken's energy is compatible with magic, that means magic is an acceptable replacement for the IS' energy, right? Even if it could detect my magic in a quantifiable way it wouldn't reveal anything about me, other than the fact that I could draw on some sort of energy source from somewhere outside my IS. I didn't think the thing could look into my soul in any case.

Powering up Senken I confirmed my hypothesis. The 'secondary power source' didn't have a listed maximum or current value, nor did it have a specific location in Senken's database. Which meant the machine had no idea what my magic was or how to measure it. Good.

The second question I had was concerning the compatibility of our two energies. Could I really use Senken's power to perform magecraft?

Trace, on. I felt my circuits hum to life, and I consciously sought the metaphysical bridge between Senken's core and my own soul. Finding it, I diverted some of Senken's energy into my magic circuit, focused my will, and tried Projecting a blade into reality.

I was now holding a sword. Wow, that's convenient. I had pulled in far more energy than I'd normally need to Project a completely normal blade like this in case the compatibility was really low, but it looked to take almost exactly the same amount of energy I'd need to draw from my magic to produce. In other words I could pretty much freely use Senken's energy instead of my own magic.

But what about the other way? Could Senken actually power itself solely with my magic? Before I could figure out how to test that a message popped up on my screen. **Add 'Unknown Weapon' to database?** Hm... it was recording my Projected blade. Well that raised a few questions. What would happen if I added this sword to Senken's database and had the machine store it in its personal sub-dimension? Come to think of it, just where did things go when they were stored in the IS' special sub-dimension? Did the laws of that place still reflect the laws of Gaia, or were they entirely removed from our own reality? There was a simple way of finding out, so I decided to go for it.

**Yes**.

Now to store it. With a thought the conjured sword disappeared into the ether, and despite being added to Senken's inventory I didn't know if the machine would be able to detect the sword vanishing from existence or not. In any case the sword would certainly be gone by tonight if the laws of Gaia applied to the IS' storage space so a quick check tomorrow morning would tell me what I wanted to know.

What else should I do? 'Call Tohsaka' was my preferred answer but I didn't want to imply she had anything to do with the 'secondary power source' my IS was currently hooked up to, so I decided to wait until the weekend when I'd see her in person. I could probably manage not to die in the three days until then.

As I decided to end my experiments for the day an overwhelming wave of exhaustion hit me. Oh right, I was actually kind of hurt. Nothing that wouldn't heal with a good night's rest but all of my insides and nerves were still tingling from when Senken had poured its energy into my body. Sleep was a good idea. I stumbled around a bit before deciding to forget taking my clothes off or getting under the covers and simply passed out on top of my bed.

*break

The smell of good food gently brought me out of my slumber. As I slowly regained my senses I could hear a low murmur, like people talking softly nearby while trying not to wake someone up. Even my groggy mind pieced together the situation; it was time for dinner and everybody was here. Good thing it was Houki's turn to cook tonight... wait, didn't she move out already? Is she still planning to share my kitchen regardless? A brief image of Sakura floated up in my mind and I smiled, knowing just how hard it was to dissuade some girls from stealing my kitchen.

I fully opened my eyes and saw Huang, Charles and Cecilia sitting at the table with Houki busying herself in the kitchen, just like I predicted. "Hey everyone. Sorry for being like this," I began, lifting up the covers and getting out of bed. Wait. Covers? I distinctly remember just passing out on the top of my sheets.

A chorus of greetings echoed back to me as I made my way to the table with my guests. I turned to my new roommate and gave him a small bow of apology. "Sorry again for skipping out on my promise. I'll definitely make it up to you."

"Ah, no no, it wasn't your fault. Don't worry about it," Charles replied, giving me his best 'I forgive you' smile. It really was a shame such a nice boy had been forced into this violent academy just because he could pilot an IS. I reaffirmed my earlier decision to help him out as much as I possibly could.

"That's right, Shirou-san. Given your... episode, it would be unreasonable to expect you to help someone move." Cecilia looked down for a bit before resuming. "What did happen there, Shirou-san? Is there a problem with your IS?" Why, Cecilia, do you always ask the questions I didn't want you to? Do you have some sort of special ability that reads my mind for the question that makes me the most uncomfortable?

"It was nothing. Senken did something I didn't expect but I'm fine now. It won't happen again."

The three girls- no, sorry, two girls and one guy at the table didn't look very reassured by my words, but they knew me well enough to stop asking about it. Ah, this isn't good. There's a heavy atmosphere in the room now since they all want to keep asking me questions and they know I won't answer them. Better change the subject.

"Charles, I see you've already gotten acquainted with my friends. Would you like to join us in the future for breakfast as well? I cook every morning, and adding one more mouth won't be any trouble. Oh, every morning except Sunday. I travel home every Saturday evening and come back Sunday night."

The young man smiled at me. "I would love to. Also, I have been informed of the dinner rotation and the four of us decided on a new schedule. We thought it wouldn't be fair for Emiya-senpai to do all the work." Even though his smile was pure I had a very bad feeling about where this conversation was going. "So we decided to all take a day doing dinner for everyone. It will still all be here, since two of the five of us live in this dorm and it would be a hassle to relocate every day, so everyone will pitch in for our food, condiment and spice supply. That way it's fair for everybody, right?"

All the girls nodded, even Houki from the kitchen, letting me know this battle was already lost. I still had a scrap of hope, though- Charles didn't say anything about them stealing breakfast from me. Maybe I could salvage at least a partial victory from this ambush. "That seems fair," I somehow managed to grit out, "but I'm not giving up making breakfast. I refuse."

Instead of fighting me, like I thought they would, everyone smiled at me instead. "Wow, you girls weren't kidding," Charles said, wonder evident in his voice.

"Didn't I tell you? Shirou-san protects his kitchen like a fierce warrior." Cecilia seemed pleased for some reason, though I couldn't figure out why.

"That's why we had to set up an ambush while he couldn't fight back," Huang interjected. So you admit to your trickery?

I sighed, knowing I was completely beaten. "Alright, it's settled then. I'm not budging another inch after this," I said, just to make my position abundantly clear. This was the last loss I'd be willing to accept in the Kitchen War.

Houki came into the common room holding a few plates full of food so I moved to help her. She expected this, since I had always insisted on helping people carry stuff around, so she started passing me dishes without comment as I placed them on the table for everyone. Houki really outdid herself this time- was it because of our new guest? In any case we all started devouring the food as soon as the preparations were complete.

Well, even if I say 'devouring,' everyone apart from me had impeccable manners. Houki ate like an automaton, mechanically bringing each bite to her mouth as soon as she swallowed her previous morsel. Cecilia and Charles ate like royalty, graceful in their movements even as they talked with others or praised the quality of the food. Huang seemed to be concentrating on all of her actions, perhaps self-conscious from the regal way of eating her companions had, but managed to keep perfect table manners after a few seconds of deliberation.

I wasn't a slob or anything, but I was used to a much less formal atmosphere. It was hard to keep everything perfect when gluttons like Fuji-nee and absent-minded people like Tohsaka came over so frequently. Even Sakura and Ilya allowed themselves some lax habits at the table. Still, my manners weren't atrocious by a long shot and my guests didn't seem to mind at all so I wasn't worried about it.

A knock on the door made everyone pause. I sighed and stood up, shooting everyone a 'please continue' glance as I made my way over to see who was calling. Opening the door I found the second transfer student, Laura, standing at attention just outside.

"This is Emiya Shirou's residence, correct?"

"Uh... yes?" Did she need something from me? Oh, now that I thought about it, I was pretty rude if I only invited Charles for dinner and not her. That was careless of me.

"Then you are Emiya Shirou, correct?"

"...Yes?" There is only one man in this entire school, aside from the one you transferred in with, so I don't think you have to be so thorough in confirming my identity. Still, she struck me as someone who moved in very specific ways and wasn't likely to deviate from them even in extraneous circumstances. Even as I was thinking this she removed a piece of paper from her baggy pants and started reading the contents.

"Question one. Where did you receive your combat experience?"

She looked at me completely deadpan like she actually expected me to answer or something. Was this girl for real? No, before that, why was she even asking me anything? I haven't interacted with this girl at all. Considering her personality I didn't think she was doing this out of curiosity, so just what is going on here?

"Question one. Where did you receive your combat experience?"

"You don't have to repeat yourself. Why are you asking me in the first place?"

"I'm asking the questions here. If you value your life you will answer them."

Oookay, now she's emanating a killing aura to back up her words. I didn't have enough information to process this situation and I certainly didn't want to get into a fight with this girl. If Ilya taught me anything in half a year it was to not underestimate what a little girl with fierce willpower could do.

"Shirou-san, dinner is getting cold. Are you almost finished?" Cecilia called from inside. Well, there was always the fun way of solving this problem.

"I'm in the middle of dinner right now," I explain, "so I can't keep talking. You're welcome to join us until we finish."

"I see. I have not eaten yet either, so I will join you. We can finish this conversation afterwards."

Like I thought, an excuse like 'I cannot talk when eating dinner' is the perfect kind of logic to use on a girl like her. As a soldier she must have an appropriate sense of the importance of meals and she seemed to value logical arguments over emotional ones. I filed that information away for future reference in case I had to deal with this girl again.

Without even a word of greeting the icy-haired German sat down at the table and began helping herself, much to the surprise of everyone else. "Ah... you'll be joining us, Bodewig-san?" The first to recover, Charles, gave Laura a gracious smile. The girl didn't respond, choosing to eat as quickly as possible instead.

Closing the door behind me I pulled up another chair and rejoined the table, eyeing the strange girl as I started eating again. The whole meal descended into silence but I couldn't take my attention from what the girl across from me was up to. She came to ask me questions- not just that, the same questions Chifuyu-nee was trying to get out of me. Did she finally enlist some help? No, relying on other people wasn't her style. Especially a girl who had no sense of subtlety like Laura.

As soon as I put my chopsticks down Laura turned to me again. "Question one. Where did you receive your combat experience?" The other members of the table perked up on hearing that. I shook my head, directing my answer to Laura.

"I can't answer anything without knowing the purpose of the questions. I need to know if this is an enemy interrogation or a classmate's curiosity." I had prepared that answer while we were eating, of course. This girl wouldn't lie to me; not that she would object on moral grounds or anything, she was just someone who didn't consider subterfuge in her possible options.

"I see. The principal told me that the Instructor wouldn't be allowed to leave this academy until she found out all of Emiya Shirou's secrets. He gave me a list, so answer all the questions on the list."

Did the principal think I'd be weak against such a tiny girl? Well, normally he'd be right, but I had plenty of experience dealing with Ilya now. More importantly I have seen how Tohsaka deals with Ilya. This would most definitely be her way of dealing with the problem.

"Understood. It will be faster if you just hand me the list and I can write down the answers."

She nodded once and handed me the paper, my friends all widening their eyes in shock as I just agreed to answer all my little secrets. It didn't take me long to fill out the paper- I answered in the most direct and useless ways possible.

Question one. Where did you receive your combat experience?

In the places I have been.

Question two. How did you summon the weapons outside your IS' database?

The same way I always do.

And so on. I just handed the paper back to Laura, who briefly made sure I filled out every question before abruptly standing up and leaving the room. Tohsaka, you're a really bad influence on me. But this was the easiest way to solve the problem, as the principal would realize how useless that girl would be at her assigned job and stop trying to use her. I had a pretty good idea who the 'Instructor' was, since Chifuyu-nee was the one in charge of monitoring me, but I wasn't about to let her discover my secrets. Sorry, Laura, she's not going anywhere.

"Um... you didn't really tell her everything, right, Shirou-san?"

The hurt expression on Cecilia's face was a little shocking, but I realized it was a little cruel to tell a complete stranger things I wouldn't tell me friends. "No, I didn't tell her anything. With any luck that will stop her from bothering me again." I had enough people poking around my life.

The three girls blew out sighs of relief, reassured that I wasn't being unfair to them. "Haha, that was a little weird, right?" Huang said, breaking the tension. Charles chuckled to himself and even Houki cracked a smile.

"Yes, Shirou attracts strange people," the quiet girl affirmed. It's not like I was trying to or anything.

"Ahem," Cecilia started, looking at me expectantly. "Now that dinner's over, there's something you should know, Shirou-san. The inter-class tournament that's coming up has been changed to a doubles format, so you'll need a partner..." all three girls tensed up. Why were they suddenly so nervous? Oh, I got it- there was an odd number of us now that Charles had joined our group. It would be tough trying to figure out teams without hurting anyone's feelings... but it's not like they didn't have friends outside our group, right? I saw Cecilia and Huang talking with classmates all the time. Well, Houki didn't, but teaming up with someone new might be good for her anyway.

Maybe they were just concerned for me, since I didn't actually have any other friends? Good thing I had a solution for that. "Don't worry, everyone. I'm not participating in the tournament. So you can partner with whoever you want."

Four shocked faces stared back at me.

"I mean... it's not mandatory or anything; I'm not really interested in winning, so I figured I'd just watch this one."

They didn't say anything. This wasn't something out of the blue, right? More like, why did they think I'd want to do it in the first place?

"Emiya-san, that's unacceptable! We already decided that you'd be the one to pick who you're teaming up with so you can't get out of it now!" Huang suddenly exploded and leaned over the table at me.

"Shirou! If you're a man, don't back down from something like this!" Houki, what does being a man have to do with a sports tournament?

"Shirou-san, it's not good to decline an invitation from a lady. Aren't you a proper gentleman?" Well... it wasn't good, but I really didn't want to participate.

"Sorry everyone, I just don't want to participate. Please have fun without me."

The girls glared angrily at me, but they seemed out of arguments to convince me when I refused so flatly.

"In other words, as long as we give Emiya-senpai 'something he wants enough to participate,' then he'll change his mind, right?" Charles spoke up, causing everyone to look at him. A grin quickly spread across Huang's face. "That's right! It's just a question of motivation, right? So whoever can motivate Emiya-san to participate gets to partner with him!" Oh boy, this looked like it was going in a bad direction. Was this on purpose, Charles, or were you just trying to help?

"Agreed. Rest assured, Shirou-san, I will be the one to restore your manly spirit!" Cecilia, why did you agree to things so quickly?

"Shirou, you've been slacking during your training. This is a good opportunity to make you shape up." Even you, Houki?

I sighed, knowing from long experience that there wasn't anything I could do at this point but weather the storm. "Fine, but don't go crazy. Don't break any school rules either," I said. Might as well make that clear from the beginning, for all the help it will do. The girls, of course, completely ignored me and started making their devious plans right at the table. I shot a glance at Charles to see him smiling radiantly at me, evidently pleased he could be so helpful. I made a mental note to get him back for this somehow.

"Well, time to clean up," I said, picking up a few plates. It was an unspoken rule at our table that the person who cooked didn't have to help with the dishes, so Houki stayed seated while the rest of us started cleaning everything up. With the four of us working together it was finished in no time, letting the girls get a head start on whatever they planned on doing to me later. I really wasn't looking forward to that.

"Don't look so glum, Emiya-senpai. They're all good girls, so I don't think you have anything to worry about." The sunny young man looked at me with an angelic expression.

"You just don't understand girls, Charles." Maybe he was trying to help earlier, but he's never had to live with four rambunctious, headstrong women before. Things like this were just trouble.

Much to my surprise the young man started chuckling, shaking his head as he went to the shower. "You're right, Emiya-senpai. I suspect you know a lot more about girls than I do."

Was he patronizing me? No, he's much too honest a guy to do something like that. I shouldn't doubt the kid so much.

After Charles started up his shower I decided to just go to bed. I didn't feel like waiting around for him to finish his so I could take one myself, so I just changed into my sleepwear and crawled into bed again. Despite my long nap earlier I was still tired as my body struggled to heal itself after my fun incident this morning. Oh well, I'd have plenty of time to rest for the next few days.

***chapter end**

For Laura fans- don't worry, she'll become a main character. In a hilarious way, hopefully.

For those confused why Shirou plays around with his machine instead of trying to hide it, the answer is that he didn't actually reveal any new information. Senken can't measure his magic circuits, so everything he did was pretty much undetectable, and his observers already know he can summon blades so they didn't gain any new information there. He also needed to know what he had gotten himself into because magical contracts can be quite dangerous.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke bright and early, my wounds from the previous day completely healed and no longer sore enough to hamper me in any significant way. The slightly stiff feeling in my muscles would work itself out during my morning exercises if I followed my usual routine, so I quickly positioned myself on the floor of the living room and started doing some basic stretches, situps, pushups, and other body weight exercises to get my blood flowing. Sometime during my work out Charles had woken up, but the shy boy was simply watching me with a slight blush. I immediately understood why- with my shirt off he could see my large, unsightly scar. He always got embarrassed whenever he saw the thing but what could I do about that?

"Morning, Charles."

"Huh? Um, yeah, good morning Emiya-senpai." The kid looked even more embarrassed as he tried to shrink under his covers.

"Ah, sorry for taking up the living room. I'm done now," I said, realizing he might find it difficult to get up and move around while I was exercising on the floor. With my morning routine done I shone with a slight glimmer of sweat, the dim light of the room reflecting off my chest and abs. I took great care to keep myself in perfect physical shape so I could respond to any emergencies that popped up, and even my two week rest in the hospital had done little to diminish my athletic build. Good. I didn't want my body failing on me in a pinch.

Glancing at Charles I saw the timid boy had yet to get out of bed, watching me with a strange look in his eyes. Did my scar bother him that much?

"Do you want to try touching it?" Maybe if he interacted with it a bit he wouldn't be so conscious of it.

"What? Touch- touch what?"

That was odd... wasn't he staring so intently at my scar? Well, Charles was a really nice boy so he might be trying to deflect the question. My scar didn't bother me nearly as much as it seemed to worry him, though, so it would be good to get this out of the way.

"My scar. You get flustered every time you see it, so I thought interacting with it might make you feel a little more comfortable around me." If it was a known quantity it wouldn't be as intimidating, right?

"You- you mean you want me to touch your chest?"

I frowned. Why did he... oh! I got it now. Certainly, I was much more solidly built than the young man opposite me. Maybe he wasn't intimidated by my scar so much as my stronger body, since his waif-thin frame and skinny arms showed just how little he worked out. Not many boys his age would have experience dealing with someone with my body type, since bodybuilding was pretty much unheard of in normal Japanese high schools. Man, why was I always so insensitive?

"Yeah. Even if I have more muscle than an average student it's nothing to fear, right?" I continued, deftly switching reasons in my own head. "You always seem so bothered by my body. This is a good opportunity for you to get used to me- both my appearance and my build. After all, we'll be seeing each other naked quite a bit from now on."

Ooookay, that was apparently the wrong thing to say. Charles started to choke and stumbled back out of his bed, pointing a finger at me like I was some sort of demon come to steal his chastity or something. Even I could tell he was panicked beyond all reason.

"Na-naked? Why would we be naked?" Wow, I didn't know eyes could get that wide. Still, I better say something before he hyperventilates and passes out.

"We change next to each other, remember? We share a bedroom, too. You've already seen me naked," I pointed out. Just how shy was this boy?

"Oh- yes, of course. That's right. As fellow boys we change right next to each other, right? Ahaha, silly me," he started to ramble, looking confused and red in the face. I wasn't going to judge him based on this little outburst, seeing as I still didn't quite know where his embarrassment was coming from. He did say he was the son of a rich company CEO, so maybe he led an incredibly sheltered life? That was certainly possible. He might never have been exposed to public locker rooms or sharing living space with another person before.

With that possible explanation in my mind I shrugged off any further lines of inquiry. Whatever his reasons the kid was just shy in the end, something I could at least help him with.

"So, do you want to?"

Charles looked like he was about to cry. You can say no if you don't want to, you know?

"Of- of course. That's what teenage boys do, right? Completely normal!" he said in a slightly hysteric voice, inching his way toward me. Actually, this was kind of weird, right? Normally I wouldn't go around letting other people touch my body but it seemed like my earlier guess was right- Charles was way too sheltered to interact with people normally. At least this might help him relax a bit around me.

He slowly crossed the space between us until he was next to me, stretching his arm out like he wanted to keep as much distance from me as humanly possible while still touching me. As soon as his hand brushed against my chest he hopped backwards like a rabbit, pointing at me while hyperventilating.

"You win! You're much stronger than me, no need to touch my chest or anything!"

Did he think I was trying to start a competition or something? That would explain a few things. I shook my head slowly, wondering where the panicking boy got that idea from.

"No, I wasn't trying to compete with you. It just seemed like you were intimidated by my body so I was trying to help," I said, scratching the back of my head. "Looks like this attempt was a failure though. Hopefully you'll just get used to me in time." I really felt bad about this. We were going to be spending at least a year together after all, so if being around me made the kid nervous it would be a terrible year for him, considering I was the only other guy around here he could interact with. I seemed to be making the situation worse with my meddling, so I decided to let the issue drop for now. At least until I figured out a way to make him comfortable around me.

"Ah- no, you're not scary or anything. I'm just... not really used to living with someone else, so it's a little awkward for me," he sheepishly replied, looking down at the floor.

That confirmed my earlier guess. "Sorry for being so straightforward. Sometimes I forget that not everyone confronts problems the same way I do," I admitted.

With that the radiant glow of Charles' smile returned, something I was happy about. This kid really was at his best when smiling. "Don't worry about it, Emiya-senpai. It was just a little surprising, that's all. I'm sure I'll get used to you," he added, a strange expression on his face.

I should get out of here before I do something stupid. Stupider.

"I'll start on breakfast after I take a shower," I said, quickly escaping to the bathroom. Charles nodded his assent, signaling the end of our awkward conversation as I ducked through the door. Well, that's one way to start your day. I stripped off my remaining clothes, turned on the shower and waited for it to warm up.

Oh, right. I silently concentrated for a second and a blade formed in my hand- the sword I Projected last night. Whatever dimension the IS had stored it in was apparently unconnected to reality, since the fake sword should have long since disintegrated as Gaia sought to erase all contradictions to itself. That opened up quite a few scary possibilities. What if someone tried to put a human being in that storage space? As far as I could tell there was nothing preventing the IS from targeting living things with the storage command other than a simple safety feature which could easily be turned off by an unscrupulous programmer, and I had absolutely no idea what kind of effect the mysterious dimension would have on a living being.

More to the point, what exactly could the IS store? A sword made of nothing but prana was still a sword in the end, but could the IS analyze and seal something like a spell? If the extra-dimensional space wasn't governed by the laws of Gaia how did magic even work there? I wondered if the IS were really inconsequential to the Magic Association after all. This sub-space alone was worth decades of magical research and I'm pretty sure a competent mage would be able to instantly tell that an IS core has energy compatible with magic circuits, so it stood to reason that I wasn't the first mage to study an IS.

Not that I had any way of contacting other mages. "Hey, I'm not registered with the Association but I was wondering if you'd share potentially world-altering information with me" wasn't likely to work. They'd probably kill me on the spot if they knew I was a mage in possession of an IS, actually. Great. Now I have to be even more careful to hide my magic or I'll die twice as fast.

This was way too much for me to think about before breakfast. After storing the blade again I slipped into the shower and quickly washed up, hurrying to finish before my guests all arrived. I hadn't brought a change of clothes in with me because of my previous haste so I'd have to go back into the common room to dress myself. I decided I'd rather be safe than sorry.

"Hey Charles, has anyone arrived yet?" I called through the door.

"Emiya-senpai? No, I'm the only one here."

Good. I walked into the room naked, reached my dresser and swiftly dressed myself again before heading to the kitchen. Judging by the clock I didn't have much time before Houki, Cecilia and Huang came over so I decided to skip the dishes that took longer to prepare, much as I wanted to include them, to better focus on the ones I could make in time. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made.

Cooking was more important than discovering what my IS' sub-dimension could do. It's not like I could even figure that out on my own, seeing as I lack the technical and theoretical knowledge for that kind of scientific stuff in the first place, so I'd just ask some of the engineers later. As long as I didn't throw around any more magic I wouldn't bother the Magic Association either, so I'd hopefully never have to worry about them at all.

All thoughts left me as I concentrated on my cooking. There was something just so incredibly _right_ about being in a kitchen that just melted all my worries away. Before I even realized it my living room was full of girls, chatting and teasing each other like usual while I brought the food over. Cecilia and Huang greeted me with their usual smiles while Houki had the same angry-looking but actually happy expression, reminding me just how much I'd grown accustomed to life here.

Cecilia cleared her throat. "We have unanimously decided to wait until lunch before asking you to partner with us. It would be too cruel to start fighting when you're so relaxed at home." Houki and Huang both nodded, and I was grateful for the gesture. Then again, why do you have to fight at all? I turned to Charles, wondering how much he had to do with this latest development, but the young man immediately averted his gaze when our eyes met. Why was he turning red? I didn't recall anything I'd done recently to make him embarrassed even with the kid's amazingly sheltered outlook on life.

"This seems like less than usual. Did something happen, Shirou?"

"Ah, no. I was just a little caught up in things this morning so I didn't have as much time as I usually do. It's nothing significant," I said, trying to pacify her. Sometimes these girls got upset about the strangest things so I try not to take chances now.

"...why was Charles blushing when you said that?" Huang asked. All eyes turned to Charles, who was indeed blushing furiously and resolutely staring at the food in front of him.

"It- it wasn't anything strange! We just did stuff that's normal for two teenage boys! Right, Shirou?"

Don't turn those puppy-dog eyes on me; I don't know what to say either.

"Whatever could he be talking about, Shirou-san?" Why do you look so angry, Cecilia? He just said we only did normal things! Even Huang and Houki were giving me glares of death. If I didn't want to die I'd better explain things properly, though once again I had no idea what set them off.

"I just wanted to make Charles more familiar with my body. It seemed like I scared him a bit in the locker room so I thought I'd take the chance to show him I wasn't someone to be frightened of."

The room was quiet.

"Um... you might want to explain it a little better than that, Emiya-senpai... they'll get the wrong idea," Charles said, his voice barely above a whisper. Oh, right, they didn't know about my scar yet so that comment probably came out of left field for them.

"I've got a large, unsightly scar on my chest," I said, pointing to the location over my shirt. "It seemed like Charles was intimidated by it so I tried to show him it wasn't anything special. My plan wasn't very thought out though."

All three girls looked down in embarrassment, causing the conversation to screech to a halt. Good going, Shirou, let's just make everybody uncomfortable.

"Yeah, it was pretty awkward all around. Let's just forget about it, all right?" I hated it when the mood was wrecked during a meal. Eating was supposed to be an enjoyable thing.

"Sorry. I was being too nosy," Huang admitted, shuffling her thumbs.

Charles gave her a radiant smile. "Don't worry about it, everyone. Let's all enjoy Emiya-senpai's homemade breakfast, okay?"

Everyone perked up a bit after the blonde gentleman gave them his gentle smile and a few reassuring words. Wow, that kid is definitely good with people. Why did they all feel better after what he said when I already said basically the same thing? Whatever it was I wasn't about to complain. Everyone's mood finally shifted back to what it was before this commotion, allowing everyone to enjoy my breakfast at last.

These girls really got along well with each other. Even though I'd never seen Houki talk to anyone in class she joined in the conversation here, and both Cecilia and Huang included her without any hesitation. It was pretty amazing how two Japanese people, a Frenchman, a Chinese girl and a British aristocrat all managed to talk to each other so comfortably. How should I put it... it's like they didn't care about rank at all? When I first transferred here I was convinced all the pilots would be total elitists, but it looks like my first impression was pretty inaccurate. All the other girls in the academy were nice to me too.

"Ah, it's almost time for class. We should get going," Charles said. He had a good point, and we were all done with eating by now so we started clearing the table with practiced familiarity. It took the five of us only a couple minutes to clean everything up due to the efficiency of my reliable guests, leaving us plenty of time to leisurely stroll down to our classroom. It was kind of weird, now that I thought about it, to have most of the personal IS users in the same class. Was it because Chifuyu-nee could keep us all in line? Reaching our classroom I stepped ahead of the girls, opening the door like a gentleman. I was escorting them here, after all.

"Emiya Shirou! Prepare yourself!"

Barely a second after I entered the classroom a knife rocketed at my face.

Without hesitation I brought out my Projected blade and slammed it down on the knife, burying the smaller weapon into the floor as I looked for my attacker. Laura stood right in the middle of room, another combat knife in hand and a murderous look in her eyes. Looks like she wasn't happy with the results of last night's mission.

"Emiya Shirou. You can give up now or wait until I torture the information out of you. Your choice."

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to make fun of her?

"Shirou-san, what's going on? Why do you have a sword out?"

I ignored Cecilia behind me and focused on the possibly-crazy girl in front of me. "Torture is illegal here. You'd be deported back to your country before accomplishing your goals." Let's disarm her with some logic and see where that goes.

"Hmph. Coward. You don't have the guts to face me in battle so you hide behind your laws? You're even more pathetic than I thought," she sneered. As long as you're not trying to kill me I count this as a success, you know.

"Don't joke around! Emiya-san could beat you in ten seconds with his explodie-spear, so don't even try to badmouth him!" Huang had apparently stuck around for this drama instead of going off to her own classroom, and while I was grateful for the vote of confidence I really wished she wouldn't go around blabbing my secrets so easily.

"That's right. Shirou-san defeated me, after all, so someone like you wouldn't be a match for him." I suddenly didn't like where this was going.

"Oh? You want to fight me?"

Before I could figure out how to diffuse the situation Houki spoke up. "Shirou won't lose to you. We'll cancel his training this afternoon."

"Then it's settled. We'll fight today, after class. When I win you have to do whatever I say!" the silver-haired girl yelled at me. No no, I didn't ever agree to this!

"When Emiya-san beats you, you'll have to do whatever he says!" Stop it Huang, don't accept this ridiculous bet for me!

"Agreed. Arena three." Laura turned around and started walking toward her seat.

It seemed my long, ingrained response of staying quiet during these types of arguments between Ilya and Tohsaka just backfired on me. Though in retrospect it always turns out like this anyway...

Oh well. All I have to do is win and she'll leave me alone. She's the type that sticks to her word, and this might just be the most effective resolution anyway. Should I thank my rambunctious friends for their confidence in me? Unless Laura was some sort of super soldier or something silly like that I doubted she could match me, though my instincts still warned me that she was dangerous. That knife she threw would have killed me if I hadn't blocked it.

Cecilia and Houki both smiled at me before taking their own seats in the class, and I dutifully followed suit a few seconds before our two teachers came in. This was shaping up to be a long day.

The actual class helped relax me a bit, since it was all about different ways to accurately use guns at different ranges so I pretty much just ignored everything. Instead I used the time to organize my own thoughts, putting the various events of the day into perspective and figuring out what I needed to do from here. First off I needed to contact one of Senken's engineers to ask more about the IS sub-dimension. How could I do that? I knew that Houki's older sister was the primary inventor of the IS themselves but it seemed a little silly to ask someone so important such a minor question. I knew some of the students here were going into the engineering section of the IS Academy, so maybe I could just ask around? Okay, that was the plan for now.

Next on the agenda was what to do about Laura. It seemed pretty obvious, as beating her in this match would allow me to get her off my back, but nothing was ever that easy. I didn't know anything about her IS apart from it being Germany's prototype 3rd generation model which made me a little uneasy, having learned the hard way just how important it is to know your opponent's capabilities before engaging them. Still, there wasn't much I could do before we actually started fighting, so I didn't have much of a plan. My inventory was stocked full of weapons, though, so I had a reasonable chance of countering anything she threw at me.

Before I even realized it the day was half over. Cecilia, Houki and Charles all pulled their desks up next to mine for our lunch while we waited for Huang to come running in. Sure enough the energetic little girl bolted in a few seconds later, waving her hands dramatically as she skidded to a stop right next to our group. Strangely enough the three girls started glaring at each other and without even a slight pause they jumped into a game of rock-paper-scissors.

"Rock! I get to go first!" Huang shouted, completely out of breath. Cecilia and Houki looked a little put off but immediately finished the game between the two of them, the British girl winning second place in whatever they were competing for.

"So, Emiya-san. How would you like to learn Chinese cooking from the best chefs in China?" Huang said without any introduction.

"What? Well, I'd love to. Is there a demonstration going on near here or something?"

Everyone looked at me like I was an idiot, an expression I'd gotten used to with my makeshift family. What was I missing this time?

"Emiya-senpai, you remember that they're trying to partner up with you for the tournament, right?"

Oh yeah, that was a thing.

Huang looked me straight in the eyes before continuing. "I can get the best chefs to come over to Japan and teach you personally. Or you can come to China and learn there! Well, do you feel like partnering with me yet?" The little girl was pretty intensely staring at me, evidently completely serious about this.

To be honest it was tempting. Chinese dishes weren't my best, but with some special training I'd be able to outdo Tohsaka at her chosen field of expertise... imagining the look on her face as I completely upstaged her was tempting indeed. But it wouldn't be fair to the other two girls to decide without hearing their offers as well. I'd already resigned myself to the fact that it would be easier to participate than to try and ignore them at this point. The only question was how I'd choose because I obviously didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

"I'd like that, but I can't make a decision yet," I said, hedging my bets.

Before Huang could even answer Cecilia spoke up next to me. "Of course, you'll be picking me anyway! I've prepared a gift suitable for someone of your prestige, unlike _some _girls who can only think with their stomachs. It's an all-expenses paid two week vacation in England, complete with visits to all of my country's proud historical locations and stays in the most luxurious accommodations we have to offer! And as an added bonus I'll be the one escorting you around," she added, a slight blush creeping up her ears.

Wow, she was willing to devote two weeks of her own time showing me around her country? That was quite generous of her, especially considering her social status back in England. I wondered if the British government was paying for this or if it was coming out of her own pockets. She was part of the aristocracy if the rumors around school were true, meaning she had plenty of money and connections. Either way, though, it was a very generous offer.

"Shirou. I can't... I don't have anything like that to offer. But if you come to my shrine I can give you a blessing."

Houki unexpectedly interrupted my train of thought, causing me to lose track of what I was doing.

"What shrine?" I honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

"My family has run a Shinto shrine since the Warring States period. It's not much, but I can at least ward you from misfortune," Houki said, staring resolutely at the table. That was new information.

Wait, the Warring States period? That was in the 16th century, and if Houki could seriously trace her family line that far back there was a very real chance she was a mage. Many modern Shinto priests and shrine maidens followed the form of the religion without actually having any power but there were still a few families that had real magic left. If Houki came from such an ancient lineage she could very well be serious when she said she could ward me from misfortune.

Not like there was any way I could make sure. If I said something like "Do you mean in the fake way or does your family have actual magic in it" I'm sure she'd kill me on the spot, and unless she casts a spell right in front of my face I couldn't detect her magic directly either. Maybe if I introduced her to Tohsaka? Then again, Tohsaka didn't know I was a mage when we first met, so it probably wouldn't be that simple.

"Shirou-san, have you come to a decision?" Cecilia asked, reminding me where I was.

"Tell you what. I'll decide after the weekend so I have plenty of time to make the right choice." When in doubt stall as much as possible.

Charles took this opportunity to speak up, treating all of us to another brilliant smile. "I think that's a good idea. It would be a shame to ruin everyone's fun by constantly bothering Emiya-senpai over this, so letting him think about it over the weekend is the best option."

The three girls considered this proposition before agreeing. I got the feeling that Charles, despite his proclaimed uneasiness around people, was actually quite adept at handling social situations like this. Did he just have an innate understanding of the feelings of those around him?

Regardless, the matter was settled for now as I pondered what to do over lunch. After the break was over I had to cross to the "normal" school part to continue my real high school education- math, English, Japanese and history. Science was covered during the IS portion of the curriculum which made sense in a way. I had to hurry down some hallways and up a few flights of stairs but made it before the lunch break was over.

I greeted my third-year classmates but couldn't talk with them much because of the extremely strict teachers in the third-year classes, who seemed determined beyond all reason to cram the usual high school subjects into our heads with as little wasted time as possible. We had to learn everything a normal high schooler does in less than half the normal time, leaving almost no room for socialization or class bonding. My classmates were all friendly to me, of course, but without participating in their IS classes I'd never really be one of them.

It took all of my attention and concentration but I managed not to fall behind as the teachers blitzed through their subject material, the breakneck pace of the classes making time fly by. Before I even knew it classes were over for the day. I sighed, knowing the worst was yet to come. After I finished my fight with Laura, though, I'd finally be able to get some rest tonight. At least that's what I told myself as I trudged down to arena three.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's notes-

Since there will sometimes be a lot of people in dialogue scenes all inserting comments almost at random I've tried to give them all a recognizable speech pattern and a unique way of calling Shirou's name to speed up character recognition. Here's the list of 'what I call Shirou'-

Chifuyu- Emiya

Houki- Shirou

Cecilia- Shirou-san

Lingyin- Emiya-san

Charles- Emiya-senpai

Laura- Emiya and/or Shirou

I use the terms "Ally of Justice" and "superhero" interchangeably. They have slightly different connotations but they're both basically what Shirou wants to become. Synonyms are the spice of life, right?

Once again I've taken a few liberties in interpreting IS technology, though the source material never really elaborates so I didn't have much of a choice. Not like IS is hard science to begin with.

*start

My friends were all waiting for me outside the arena with cheerful expressions, a stark contrast to the sinking feeling I had coming into this fight. What kind of effect would my magic have on Senken's performance? This was the first time I was seriously piloting my machine after making a contract with it and frankly I had no idea what would happen. There was always a chance that nothing would go wrong, of course, but something unexpected might pop up and completely ruin this for me.

"Emiya-san, don't worry! You'll completely crush that crazy girl and then we can make her do anything we want!" Huang exclaimed, practically bouncing off the walls. What exactly did the small girl want to do with Laura?

"I agree, Shirou-san. There's no need to worry. Oh, and you're allowed to hit her, got it? You may have recognized me as a lady but this Laura girl is far from a delicate flower." Cecilia started to lecture me about the importance of differentiating between females and ladies but was almost immediately cut off by Houki.

"I've never once been able to hit you. If Laura does I'm going to be mad." The stoic girl looked me right in the eyes and declared her intentions openly, as if she was daring me to test her. I did know how much she valued kendo though, so I had no desire to challenge her demand. Not that I could guarantee winning the match without taking a single hit.

Before this impromptu pep talk could continue I heard the sound of high heels clicking down the hallway toward me, sending a shiver down my spine and making my hairs all stand on edge. I recognized that sound. The crisp, efficient clicks of high heels on someone who _really _knew how to wear them, with perfect balance and speed despite the awkward weight distribution of the feminine footwear. There was only one person in the Academy who walked like that and I wasn't exactly thrilled whenever she came by.

"You seem tense, Emiya. Worried about your match?"

Her smooth alto voice reached my ears before I even turned around to face her. Whatever she was doing here couldn't be good for me, especially considering the casual way she just mentioned my upcoming fight. Did she have some sort of hand in this?

The girls with me all gave our teacher a hasty bow and worried looks as she sized me up with an uncharacteristic smirk on her face. Did Chifuyu-nee think she had me cornered? It would certainly explain the predatory smile she was giving me at the moment, her normally straight posture slightly forward and aggressive. This was her chance to finally learn what she wanted from me after all.

"Good afternoon, Orimura-sensei. I take it you'll be the judge for this match?" She would be fair, of course, but I'd be completely unable to use magecraft with her around. Not that I would have used it anyway.

Chifuyu-nee continued to grin at me. "Yes, I'm here to make sure everything is official. The Academy has decided to take an _active_ stance regarding your little wager with each other. It will be enforced through the Academy, the Japanese and German governments, and your guardian as well."

What.

"We contacted Fujimura and told her the situation, and though she was reluctant at first she agreed that you needed to keep your word. The Japanese government just gave us the authority to enforce this matter as we please and the Germans accepted Laura's request for autonomy with my recommendation. In other words, no request you make of each other can be illegal, but any request you make of each other holds the weight of a legal contract."

This was the longest speech I'd ever heard Chifuyu-nee give, and for some reason the more I heard her voice the less confident I became. Why would she go through all this trouble when she knows how good a pilot I am? Is Laura better than me? No no, I was able to beat Cecilia easily and I could have rolled Huang without much problem so Laura shouldn't be difficult. So why was Chifuyu-nee still grinning like that?

My face must have been easy to read since Chifuyu-nee answered my unasked question. "Any use of weapons other than officially recognized IS weapons will result in immediate disqualification. Additionally, as her former instructor, I gave Bodewig a few pointers after school let out. Things like 'Emiya most likely has more real combat experience than you' and 'use any means at your disposal to secure victory'."

I see. Chifuyu-nee, one of the strongest people I've ever met, thinks this girl has a real chance of victory. I'm guessing it was the principal and Sarashiki-san who organized the cooperation of two powerful governments in only a few hours just to put me in a tight spot. Just how much did these people want me to talk? Or maybe the IS Academy just had so much influence they could do this sort of thing without much effort. Either way I had to make sure I won this match. Otherwise I might have to break Senken and drop off the map for a while.

It seems my friends were also getting uncomfortable with our teacher's lengthy speech, all of them casting glances between Chifuyu-nee's confident smile and my increasingly worried face.

"Um... Orimura-sensei, isn't that a bit harsh? Shirou-san is certainly in the right here, after Bodewig-san attacked him right in the classroom."

"Don't worry about it. All Emiya has to do is win, right?" Somehow that sounded more like a threat than reassurance, Chifuyu-nee.

"You better get suited up. The match begins in twenty minutes. Being late is an automatic disqualification." Chifuyu-nee seemed to be done talking to me for the moment, turning around and confidently marching down to the control room. I still couldn't tell if she came down here just to rattle my nerves or to warn me about the seriousness of this match. Maybe both? Whatever else you could say about her, she was intensely straight-laced and honest about things this important.

"Emiya-senpai, did you do something to make Orimura-sensei mad at you?" Even Charles had a troubled look on his face, something I hadn't seen very often.

"It's nothing. I didn't tell her a few things she wanted to know. Apparently she hates not knowing things." That was a contender for 'understatement of the year' award.

Cecilia cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention in the awkward silence that fell on the group. "She said at least one sensible thing, Shirou-san. All you have to do is win! Know that I will be cheering you on the whole time, so boldly advance and defeat that girl!"

That seemed to reflect the opinions of the rest of my friends, the three of them nodding with Cecilia's declaration. Well, that was the thing and the whole of the thing, right? Winning would get me out of this mess.

The five of us strolled down to the hangar I'd be using during the match while chatting about nothing in particular. The rest of the twenty minutes I had were spent only partly listening to my friends, turning over the conversation I just had over and over in my mind while donning my IS. What exactly could the government do to enforce my bet? A lot of things, really, from confiscating my house and property to jailing me and Fuji-nee. I had no way of knowing exactly how far they'd go. I shook my head to clear my thoughts; there was no point in worrying what would happen if I lost. Winning was the only acceptable option.

Trace, on.

I felt the hammer cock in my head, loading a bullet into the chamber of my magic circuits. I was not going to take any chances here. My own magic power was quite limited but even a tiny boost to my machine's shields might make all the difference in a close match, and my 'secondary power source' was already recognized as part of my machine so I couldn't be disqualified for using it. It wasn't my first option, of course, but it could save me in a pinch.

I checked over all my weapons. I committed each and every one to memory, making sure I could call on any of them in a split second during a heated fight. I checked my shields, making sure it had the full six hundred energy units and was properly distributing the Absolute Shield over my body. I was worrying too much. Saber had taught me that being too stiff was one of the worst things you could do in a real fight, right after underestimating your opponent and not considering your battlefield.

"Shirou. You're too nervous, relax a bit." Houki, thanks to sparring with me every day, noticed the change from my usual demeanor. Deep breaths, focus, concentrate, relax, think only of what's necessary. Only a couple minutes to go before the match starts.

"Thanks, Houki. And everyone. When I come back we'll have a big victory meal."

That brought out big smiles from everyone. I steeled myself for the fight to come and looked at the hangar doors, concentrating on the feel of my IS and how it responded to my movements. Finally the starting buzzer sounded as the doors pulled themselves open, and with one last round of encouragement from my friends I shot into the open arena.

There, flying in opposite of me, was a grim-faced Laura in a large machine sporting a huge cannon over her right shoulder. She flew right up to me, using the remaining few seconds before the match started to talk to me.

"You should be honored, Emiya Shirou. The Instructor has ordered me to raise your status from 'worm' to 'enemy,' something no man has accomplished before. Prepare to die."

Her killing intent was obvious even at this distance and I instantly understood just how serious she was. It wasn't illegal to kill your opponent in an IS match because of all the heavy ordinance being thrown at people whose shields could go down any second, but it was certainly frowned upon, and deliberately trying to kill your opponent could get you banned from participating in further IS tournaments. Somehow I didn't think Laura cared about that nearly as much as winning against me.

Still, she would have to keep me alive to make me answer questions afterward, so at most she'd just blow off unnecessary limbs and damage my main body enough to cripple me for life. What a pleasant thought.

The chime to start the match almost caught me by surprise, but I materialized a blade and chucked it at Laura before I could even register my own actions and started backing away. Much to my surprise the blade I threw stalled in mid-air, a mostly transparent field of force erupting from Laura's outstretched arm and encompassing her entire profile from my viewpoint. Whatever that thing was it apparently functioned as a shield, causing my hasty attack to fall harmlessly to the ground. I'd need to know what that thing was before I attacked her again.

In the second it took me to use my Structural Analysis Laura leveled her huge cannon at me, and what I saw made me stop in my tracks. That shield.

Sweet mother of God that shield.

It was called an Active Inertial Canceler, though that name was horribly misapplied. It didn't just stop inertia. It stopped _everything_. Beam weapons, bullets, people, energy swords- could that thing stop spells? More than likely. Any magic put into physical form, like the elemental magic Tohsaka was so good with, would bounce harmlessly off that thing. The more metaphysical stuff like mystic eyes probably wouldn't be affected but even still it was the single greatest defense I'd ever seen apart from Avalon. A fully made Rho Aias might be more powerful in terms of the raw damage it could stop but it didn't hold a candle to this thing's versatility. Not to mention it wouldn't kill me from the inside out when I used it.

I focused on the shape of the A.I.C. in my head. Could I adapt it to Senken? Yes, the steps are all there. Just a tiny use of Reinforcement would allow me to anchor the shield to my own IS' core, giving me the second greatest shield I'd ever possessed. I burned the process into my mind, ready to call it at a moment's-

Energy forced itself into my circuits, ramming the image I held into reality as Senken activated my Projection on its own, even raising my arm to aim itself. Not even a millisecond later a spike impacted on my newly formed A.I.C., though I chose to ignore that in favor of more pressing concerns.

What the hell? How did Senken do that? I never gave it an order to give me energy, and though with the image of my Projection held in my mind it would theoretically activate as soon as it received enough magic energy to come into existence Senken had no way of knowing that. Or did it? As my familiar, Senken had direct access to my magic circuits. Could it sense I was doing something with magecraft? But even then the machine would have no reason to spontaneously flood my circuits without an order from me.

"What? Japan managed to produce an A.I.C. as well?" I vaguely heard Laura talking but was still ignoring her.

Just what was going on here? Not for the first time I considered just smashing the damn thing and running away. This was getting way too unpredictable for me. I kept the hand producing my new shield trained on Laura to give me more time to think.

"Hahaha, Shi-chan is really interesting, isn't he?" A cute, bubbly voice came out from Senken's speakers. I'm trying to think here, please don't interrupt me. "I wonder how that happened. Your brain waves went all wonky so I put some energy into your mini-core and an A.I.C. popped out! How does that even work? Tell me, tell me!"

I suddenly realized the gravity of what this mystery speaker was saying.

"You're controlling my machine?" I asked, dreading the answer. This might explain a few things, and I might really have to destroy Senken if someone else could force me to do magic through it.

"We~ll, I can kind of control it. But don't worry, I won't interfere with your match!" I'm pretty sure what you already did counts as interference, but I'm going to stay silent and hopefully get some more answers here. "You're just so interesting, you know? You've got some sort of mini-core implanted in you that I can't detect and weapons that don't exist in your database and you can copy your opponent's weapons! Are you a super-secret spy or something? Oh, maybe a superhero!"

I immediately felt a cold sweat forming on my body. There was no way this girl could know what I was doing, right? But she apparently monitored me enough to know when I was using magecraft based on what my body and brain did, meaning she was someone really important and intelligent at least. Chifuyu-nee said there were only three people monitoring me- her, the Principal and Sarashiki. Who was this girl?

I belatedly realized Laura had stopped attacking me at some point. Looking around I saw her hovering a few dozen meters away, apparently listening in to my conversation. Oh, right. Here was another person trying to pry my secrets out of me.

"So... Emiya Shirou's IS can copy its opponent's weapons after interacting with them once." Laura looked like she was attempting to come up with a battle plan that didn't involve using any weapons I could copy, though I breathed a bit easier knowing she had attributed my ability to Senken. I'd be getting enough grief from Chifuyu-nee about this; I didn't need other countries poking around as well.

"Who are you?" I asked the voice coming out of my machine. Again, subtlety isn't my strong suit.

"It's the great genius Shinonono Tabane-sama! Well, are you surprised? Are you?" The energetic girly voice coming from my machine was the inventor of the IS, a genius far more advanced than the combined resources of major countries? Yes, that's surprising. It would, however, explain how she was able to control Senken and why she took an interest in me. Of course, now that I knew who she was it put me in an even worse position. I can't bluff the inventor of IS herself about my abilities.

One thing at a time. Laura had apparently finished her plans while I was talking and had once again leveled her rail gun at me, though what she planned to do with it when I had my A.I.C. up was a mystery.

Six small daggers attached to cables shot out of her machine in different directions, circling around in a guided attack at my rear and sides as she kept her cannon leveled at my front. It was a good tactic; the whipping daggers were fast enough to trouble an IS normally and with my concentration diverted it would be even more difficult to dodge. So instead I kicked up off the ground and rushed at Laura myself, the invincible shield held before me as I smashed into her and accelerated toward the closest wall.

Laura recovered from the shock right after I hit her, but there wasn't much she could do at this point. Senken's acceleration was slighting faster than her own Schwarzer Regen, and with all of her forward movement completely neutralized by the A.I.C. she was stuck going wherever I pushed her.

The young soldier had apparently accounted for that. Before I smashed her into the wall she pointed her own field behind her and fired it against the wall, keeping her from taking any damage. I was impressed with the smoothness of the maneuver. She'd obviously practiced using this thing in odd situations before.

Her daggers continued their arc and threatened to hit me from behind, so I had to abandon my position and duck out of the way. I backed off a bit as Laura righted herself, floating down to the ground while keeping her back to the wall. Ah, I get it- the less area her A.I.C. has to cover the more attacks she can stop.

We were pretty much at a standstill. With only one opponent and a shield that could instantly stop any sort of attack from one direction, the two of us had very little ability to hurt each other. What to do? Laura still had one attack that could curve while I didn't have any. I'd have to get creative.

"Shi-chan, don't ignore me!"

"I'm in the middle of something here," I answered, materializing some of my 'special' swords from Senken. Oh yes, I knew I'd find a use for these.

"Ah~ you're so serious! Fine then, we'll talk later. Just tell Senken to 'call Tabane' and we can chat whenever! Bye bye~!"

I joined Laura on the ground, landing only a dozen meters away from her with three swords in each of my hands. I tossed the swords at her and was unsurprised when she blocked them all. Just like I predicted, though, she lowered her field right after stopping them and let my swords fall harmlessly to the ground at her feet. She no doubt believed this would be a battle of attrition, making efficient energy use an important factor, so she'd keep her field off until she needed to actually block something. I smiled. Soldiers were so easy to predict sometimes.

I lazily started to float away from her, bringing out my bow and notching an armor-piercing arrow to it. I'd only get one chance to do this so I'd better make it count.

Laura was eyeing me the entire time, no doubt wondering what I was up to. She had shown admirable restraint this entire match- did her talk with Chifuyu-nee convince her to be cautious around me? She seemed more like the 'fire the guns till the people fall down' type to begin with, so something must have tempered her for this fight. That something was about to work in my favor.

Thirty seconds after I had chucked my swords at her they all exploded, launching her Schwarzer Regen backward and kicking up a cloud of dust between the two of us. I had already launched myself to the side, lining up my shot with the struggling and surprised Laura who was just now regaining her balance, her A.I.C. pointed in a completely wrong direction. As my arrow hissed through the air Laura finally managed to locate me, but it was too late. My arrow shredded the armor off her right arm, severing one of the necessary connections of her A.I.C. and rendering it useless. The battle was pretty much decided at this point unless I did something stupid.

Like not noticing the cord tied around my legs.

As I was thrown face-first into the dusty floor of the arena I had to give Laura some credit. Chifuyu-nee hadn't bet on her for no reason. I rolled to the side right as one of Laura's spikes smashed into the ground where I had just been, but before I could regain my balance the cord holding me yanked me yet again, sending me sprawling to the left and confusing my sense of direction.

Okay, enough of this. Two more whip-daggers were closing in on me, flying toward my arms to make me completely helpless. A flick of my wrist sent my A.I.C. field up, blocking the new projectiles as I materialized a heavy sword in my left hand to slash the cord still holding me. Even as Laura yanked me around again I kept my focus and severed the cord, freeing me up and letting me orient myself properly.

Laura had darted to my side, energy swords in hand as she swung straight at my neck. Gripping my own blade with two hands I settled into my familiar stance, knocking her first attack to the side and snapping my blade back to attention before her second swing could take a chunk out of my wing. This was the kind of fight I was used to. My opponent was fast, strong, skilled and determined.

I wasn't a master swordsman; I was an owner of swords. Time to fight like one.

I started scattering blades all over the ground, between us, to the sides of us, behind me, behind her, everywhere. It took less than a moment's thought to summon as many blades as I wanted within a five meter or so radius of myself, and before long the whole area we were fighting in was covered in blades sticking out of the ground. It looked like a graveyard of swords.

Laura's energy spear smashed my normal metal blade to pieces, but before she could even swing her other weapon to do some real damage I had another sword in my hand. I called a blade right in front of her face, blocking her vision, as I swung up with a sword I grabbed from the ground and connected with her torso. Dropping that sword I used the momentum of my swing to completely spin around, grabbing another free sword with my other hand and smashing her shields once again. The two blows staggered Laura, but the experienced soldier brought her guard back up to deflect the third and fourth attacks I leveled against her with practiced efficiency.

With a quick flick of her left hand she sent my next lunge wide, leaving my side open in a move that would have spelled my death in a normal fight. Floating just above the ground in an IS, however, let me dart to the side as easily as taking a step forward, so as she moved to skewer my kidneys I deftly twisted out of range and dropped my second blade, keeping myself in the single longsword stance that I was most familiar with. Even with the enhanced strength and control the IS granted me two sword style wasn't my best, so I wanted to keep my focus instead of reaching too much. Laura, on the other hand, seemed quite adept at using her twin energy lances like they were daggers, using fast thrusts and controlled slashes to try and control her opponent.

Without a second's hesitation the silver haired girl rushed in, no doubt trying to keep me from using my A.I.C. by forcing me to constantly be on guard. It was a good strategy, if a little reckless- one mistake would leave her completely vulnerable for a counter attack, but if it worked she could overwhelm me before I used my incredible advantage to secure victory.

I'd been pressured by better. My Absolute Defense ensured she couldn't secure a killing blow against me and her attacks, while fast, were nothing I couldn't keep up with if I focused on defense.

My sword shattered once again when blocking both her weapons at once, Laura's momentum carrying her too far after the clash to take advantage of my temporary defenselessness, but my own freed hand was in perfect position to trap her with my A.I.C. I activated the shield, pinning her in place, and was unsurprised to see her remaining five whip-daggers shoot out around the shield seeking my limbs. Fool me once, Laura. Keeping the shield up, I materialized swords in front of their twisting paths, knocking them off course as I bore the smaller girl's machine into the ground and pinned her there. I didn't have any illusions of her surrendering, which left me in the unfortunate position of having to bludgeon her body until her shields ran out.

I raised my sword.

"Get off me already!"

Laura struggled beneath me, wiggling her little body in a futile attempt to break out of the A.I.C.'s field.

"I can't lose here! I'm the best- the Instructor trained me herself! I can't lose..."

Laura trailed off, probably because I had turned off my AIC and floated a few meters away from her, my sword lowered in a relaxed position. There was no way I was going to start beating a fifteen year old girl who was helpless beneath me. I am Emiya Shirou, and I walk the path of a hero.

"Why don't we call this one a draw?" I asked hopefully. This was clearly my victory, but a draw was the best I could hope to coax out of the stubborn girl. She no doubt assumed I would force her to leave the Academy or something if I won this match, since that's exactly what she would do in my position, so asking her to surrender was pointless. Victory was obviously her best case scenario, but she should be able to see how precarious her position was. A draw would just leave everything the way it was before, allowing her to continue her mission another way. I didn't particularly want her to continue but I didn't feel like beating her senseless either.

"Hmph. What a weak man you are. Why did you withdraw when you had victory in your grasp?" Laura gave me a calculating look, apparently trying to understand what I was doing.

"I don't like hitting people when they're helpless. Besides, I don't consider you my enemy. There are very few people in the world that I would consider an enemy," I said, full of conviction. My goal was to save everyone. The only people I considered enemies were monsters like that crooked priest Kotomine, people so beyond redemption that they threatened the lives of everyone around them. A teenage girl trying to get her idolized teacher back was not on that list.

Laura considered this for a few seconds before nodding. "A strategic retreat might be necessary. There's no shame in not conquering a strong foe with one mission. I accept your cease-fire agreement," the German stated, causing the end of match buzzer to sound. That could have gone worse. It could have gone much better as well, but no use complaining about things like that. Sighing, I flew around and returned all of my scattered and occasionally broken swords to my machine.

As I flew back to my hangar I was greeted by four grumpy faces. Before I could even start to explain myself they all launched into a barrage of complaints.

"Shirou, don't treat girls any differently in a match!"

"Shirou-san, didn't we have a talk about this right before the match?"

"Emiya-san, a girl like that doesn't deserve sympathy!"

I dismissed my IS as the three girls berated me for my apparent moral failings, falling into my usual routine when I received scoldings like this from Tohsaka and Sakura. Girls really knew how to gang up on a guy, filling in every available part of a conversation by themselves without giving me the ability to talk back. They were right, of course. I knew how much girls hated it when I didn't treat them like an equal on the battlefield but I just didn't have that ability.

They weren't even done with their lecture when Chifuyu-nee and Laura approached us, having walked all the way around the arena from the opposite hangar before my friends had even paused for breath. These three really were an efficient team. Chifuyu-nee, however, strolled right up to me like I was alone and immediately stopped all conversation with her commanding presence. I would have been grateful if I hadn't known what was coming next.

"You're using new tricks every time I see you, Emiya. Did you know there's only one A.I.C. in existence? It's a prototype installed in Germany's top of the line IS that's never been revealed to the world before today. Did you buy yours in a flea market or something?" Chifuyu-nee practically growled at me, apparently annoyed with how little sense I make. It wasn't like her to make such a comment in front of so many foreign students but I guess even she got angry and sloppy sometimes. Or was she doing this on purpose?

"No comment."

I kept my eyes leveled with my teacher's, the tall woman still looking slightly up at me due to my above average height. I wasn't about to be intimidated now.

"Just know that we won't be hiding this. The German government already knows you've somehow stolen years of their research and reproduced their experimental weapon in the middle of a match, since Laura already reported that, and the Academy isn't allowed to withhold information dealing with an IS' development from the world. In other words, the politicians and engineers who made Senken possible will all be finding out about this soon, and you can rest assured they'll want to know exactly what you did to accomplish this."

My mouth was too dry. I tried to swallow but only succeeded in choking a bit. This was really, really bad.

"Ahaha, that was all me! Shinonono Tabane takes credit for everything!" a now familiar voice called out through the speakers on my wristband.

Chifuyu-nee twitched a bit.

"It's nothing surprising if the creator of all IS has a few A.I.C. systems lying around, right? Ri~ght, Chi-chan?"

I stared at my wrist, wondering just what was going on. Why was Tabane covering for me? It's not like we'd ever met. I was friends with her younger sister, sure, but that wasn't a reason to intervene on a scale like this. Then again she wasn't going to get in trouble if she claimed to have developed an A.I.C. independent of Germany, so maybe this was simply something that cost her nothing?

Charles was the first person to speak up this time. "Ah, Professor Shinonono could definitely do something like that. It's a good thing everything was cleared up before this became a major incident." The young man smiled magnanimously, leaving everyone else unable to disagree with him. Chifuyu-nee, of course, knew from my audio logs stored in Senken that Tabane was lying right now. But even if I still had to deal with her I'd be safe from everyone else, lifting a huge weight from my shoulders.

"Well then. I guess that explains everything, Emiya." Without even a farewell Chifuyu-nee abruptly walked away, leaving the five of us- no, six of us, since Laura stayed behind- in an awkward silence. Houki was looking pensively at the ground, Laura was staring at me while not twitching a muscle, and everyone else looked like they had no idea what to say.

"It's Cecilia's turn to cook dinner, right?" I asked, turning towards the blonde. It was a little early but I doubted anyone would complain. After all the excitement today I'm sure everyone could use a bit of food in them, especially me. I'd prefer to cook the meal myself, of course, but I couldn't get everything I wanted from life.

"Oh yes, just you wait! I'll show you how wonderful English cooking can be. I already set out all the ingredients I'll need, so would you mind coming with me to help carry them from my dorm, Shirou-san?" Of course, I'd never say no to helping someone in need.

"I think Charles should help too. It's only natural for _both_ guys to help you," Huang insisted, giving Cecilia a brief glare. The English girl, for her part, looked a little annoyed at the suggestion but didn't argue back. Charles gave a rueful shake of his head but didn't voice his opinions either. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but I figured it was a girl thing and didn't press the issue.

The three of us parted from the group, walking toward Cecilia's dorm as Houki and Huang went to my own room. I had to give them my key since the dorm head didn't want the boys leaving their room unlocked all the time, but Charles had his own key with him so it wasn't a problem. Those two girls spent enough time in my dorm already so I wasn't worried about leaving them alone in there. It was practically a common room for everyone at this point.

"Um... why are you following us, Bodewig-san?" Charles asked, looking behind us. The silver-haired girl was indeed following me, her movements so matched to my own that I hadn't even noticed her. Right, she was still investigating me. It made sense that she was following me around, but that sort of thing would get annoying really quickly.

Laura didn't answer the question, keeping entirely silent as she followed the three of us through the building. This was awkward... oh, right. Think like Tohsaka.

"You know, Charles, there's something I've been meaning to tell you." My sudden announcement startled everyone momentarily, the oppressive atmosphere from just a second ago completely gone as my voice rang out in the silence. "Since _you're my friend_ I feel comfortable telling you this. I'm really glad you leave your half of the dorm as clean as mine, since I hate living in mess."

The young gentleman just looked confused at me, mirroring the expression Cecilia had as well. Just bear with me, guys. "Man, that's something I'd _only say to a friend. _You could even say that people without any friends couldn't possibly learn anyone's secrets." I was laying it on pretty thick here, but I was pretty sure I couldn't be subtle about this. Charles seemed to catch on at this point.

"That's certainly true, Emiya-senpai. I'd never reveal anything personal to someone who annoys me or tries to pry at things I don't want them knowing. Why, only my closest friends would ever know all my secrets," the boy said, but the sad smile on his face didn't quite match his words. I was reminded again that the younger lad had his own share of secrets to keep, which might explain how he caught on to my train of thought so quickly.

Cecilia seemed to have figured out what I was doing too. "It wouldn't take much to be friends with you, Shirou-san, since you're so kind. All it would take is an attempt to be nice, I'm sure," Cecilia said in a slightly annoyed voice. She didn't seem very thrilled about my idea, and I couldn't really blame her. But Laura was going to be following me around anyway, right? I might as well be nice to the girl and let her become friends with everyone. Who knew, she might decide being here with Chifuyu-nee and some new friends was better than going back to Germany, and I doubted the blunt girl had any intention of making friends on her own.

Laura remained silent, processing this new information, but the tense atmosphere from before was gone. The four of us finally arrived at Cecilia's dorm, taking only a couple of minutes to gather up her ingredients before setting off back to my own room. Let's see... with all this bread and assorted fillings it looked like she'd be making some simple sandwiches, and while I was more of a meat and vegetables man myself it would be a good change of pace. Judging by the variety of fillings Cecilia was an accomplished cook as well which relieved me somewhat. She didn't seem like the type to get dirty in a kitchen but looks could be deceiving, and I felt a small pang of regret for assuming the haughty girl couldn't do a simple thing like cooking.

Seeing as how Charles and I had our hands full of groceries Cecilia opened the door for us, our dorms having been unlocked by Houki and Huang beforehand when the two got here before us.

"They're back already, I told you this was a bad idea!" Houki shouted as the door opened.

As the door swung open I could see the two girls frantically shoving something into Charles' dresser, and with a bit of a shock I realized my own drawers were partially open as well. Just what were those two doing, rifling through our things?

"You... didn't..." Charles began, his face turning white. I could understand the young man's reaction since I was thoroughly discouraged myself with the two troublemakers. I hadn't expected them to do something so rude and thoughtless.

"We didn't see anything!" the two yelled in unison, hopping away from Charles' dresser and holding their hands up. It would have been comical if I hadn't been in such a bad mood.

"I- we just thought it would be fun to find the porno mags that all guys hide in their rooms, we didn't mean anything bad, honest!" Huang began, her face a picture of regret. Seeing the looks on our faces the two girls cringed, obviously understanding how out of line they were. I mean, porn? Even if we had something like that it wouldn't be appropriate to search around someone's room for it in any case, so why on earth would you think it'd be something fun to do?

"And we certainly didn't see _anything_ we shouldn't have," she continued, glancing at Charles before focusing on me. "Nothing weird at all! We didn't even find your porn!"

I sighed, not knowing what to do in this situation. On one hand, rummaging through other people's things was a definite no-no. On the other hand it's not like they were trying to be malicious or anything, and while I had no idea why they'd try to look for porn in my room I couldn't bring myself to stay mad at them. Huang was going into hysterics, waving her arms around as tears formed in her eyes, and Houki kept her gaze firmly glued to the ground. It was probably time to settle this whole situation.

"Lingyin-san, Houki-san... could I talk to you for a moment? In private?" Charles apparently needed a few words with them first, and I wasn't about to butt in at this point. I dropped Cecilia's bag of ingredients on the counter and escorted the girl away, taking her by the arm and leading her outside before closing the door. Laura, of course, continued following behind me. And people said I wasn't sensitive.

I walked arm-in-arm with the British girl down the hallway a bit, idly wondering how much time Charles needed and how I was going to know what time to come back when I noticed Cecilia had turned a bright shade of pink. Oh, she is a rather proper lady, hearing the word 'porn' so much must have embarrassed her. She leaned into me, bringing our bodies so close it was hard to walk, causing me to flush a little with embarrassment. Did English people normally walk this close together? They were quite a bit more open with touching than a Japanese man like myself after all, so I tried not to offend her and let her keep clinging to me. It was sometimes tough dealing with people from different cultures.

We wandered the halls a bit, chatting about what Cecilia planned to make for dinner (sandwiches, like I thought), and she seemed extraordinarily happy. All this talk of cooking must make her as happy as it did me as the two of us kept a jolly mood all through our walk, and she had such a silly grin on her face that I couldn't help but grin back. This girl must like cooking as much as I do! Laura remained a few steps behind us, though I'm not sure why she was still following me since she seemed to be completely ignoring our conversation in favor of thinking to herself.

Before I even realized it our talk of recipes and national dishes was interrupted by Cecilia's phone, the young lady pausing to scowl at the device before answering it.

"Yes... yes, I understand. We'll be right back," she said with a sigh, snapping her phone closed. "It seems like they're done already. We should head back now."

I nodded sagely, though she seemed to be upset that our walk was done. It was odd that she was reluctant to head back and cook when she was so excited about the prospect only a minute ago. I shook my head, not bothering to continue that train of thought. Girls did weird things all the time.

We arrived back at my room, Cecilia expertly disengaging herself from me when we got to the door. I opened it and found Houki and Huang sitting in seiza position next to the table, their heads hanging so low I couldn't even read their expressions. Charles must have been quite upset about their intrusion.

"Ah, Emiya-senpai, Cecilia, Laura, welcome back. We've just finished talking, as you can see, so everything is settled." The young man smiled up at us like the first ray of sunshine piercing through storm clouds, radiating a serene benevolence that seemed to contrast starkly with the miserable sight of the two girls next to him. I briefly shook my head, wondering how he could manage to look like sunlight after being so stern. He'd make a great father someday.

"Well, I guess it's time to show you all what I can do!" Cecilia declared, taking her apron off the counter and gracefully tying it around her body before moving into the kitchen, spreading all her ingredients over the counters and carefully arranging everything before starting. Sandwiches were an odd choice to show cooking ability- they didn't require much effort and were pretty much unaffected by the cook's talent. Still, it was a traditional food of England, so maybe she was more interested in national culinary pride than personal ability.

It wouldn't take her long to finish the simple dinner even with the volume she'd have to make, so I turned my attention to setting the table and making sure everyone still fit with the addition of Laura to our table. Thankfully we could all still squeeze in, but the table really wasn't meant for six people. It would get really crowded when we made dinners that required lots of dipping sauces or smaller dishes.

"I'm sorry."

It took me a second to register what Houki said, her voice quiet as she stared at the table.

"I'm sorry too," Huang added, keeping her eyes similarly downcast. Just what did you say to these girls, Charles?

"Don't worry about it you two. I'm not mad or anything. Charles gave you enough chastisement for the both of us, so consider yourselves forgiven."

They did perk up a little bit, easing my conscience a little; even Charles smiled apologetically. Just then Cecilia came into the living room with a tray full of different sandwiches, most of them types I'd never seen before. She must be a good cook to have so many unique recipes at hand without even consulting a cookbook.

"I promise not to go looking for your porn anymore, Emiya-san." Huang, you don't have to say that so specifically. And why are you so obsessed with finding porn anyway? That's not something a girl your age should be looking for in the first place.

"Hmph. As expected of a virgin. Can't you control yourself?" Laura spoke up for the first time, causing me to jump a bit in surprise. I had almost forgotten she was there.

"What- what's wrong with being a virgin? We're all virgins!"

"I'm not," I said, correcting her right before I realized what a bad idea that was.

The room went completely silent.

"Well... time to eat, right? Everyone help yourselves," I said, desperately keeping a smile plastered on my face and hoping they'd drop the subject, busying myself by shoveling sandwiches onto my plate and pouring myself a drink.

"...I think you need to explain yourself, Shirou-san." I winced. Three oppressive, murderous auras started leaking out of Huang, Houki and Cecilia as they tried to kill me with their stares. I knew this feel- this was exactly what Sakura and Ilya had done when I'd similarly let the news slip to them before. I had no idea why females got so enraged when they learned I wasn't a virgin but the fallout last time had been horrendous. I had to avoid my own house for a week to keep Ilya and Sakura from torturing me with their hateful auras, and it would be much more difficult to run away now with my whole 'can't sleep outside my dorm' thing I've got going nowadays.

There was only one thing to do now.

"I just remembered I have urgent business to attend to so I'll be- hurk" Houki grabbed my collar with a vice grip as I got up to make my getaway, pulling me back down with an insurmountable strength I hadn't known the girl possessed.

"It's bad manners to leave the table in the middle of a conversation, Shirou."

It looked like I was trapped. I cast a pleading glance to Charles, who seemed to be amused by the whole situation, and my puppy dog eyes completely failed to budge Laura an inch. At least those two wouldn't be joining the lynch mob currently contemplating my murder.

"I agree. We should talk about this like adults." Huang, you were just ransacking my room looking for porn, don't try to be an adult now.

I took a deep breath, exhaled, and placed my hands on the table.

"I had a girlfriend about half a year ago. Our relationship became intimate. That's all there really is to it." Besides the Holy Grail War and everything.

"Oh? Which one was it? The one with beautiful hair or the smirking one?" It took me a second to realize she was referring to Sakura and Tohsaka, respectively.

"No, neither of them. My girlfriend... died, actually." I was actually the one to convince Saber to die, giving up her dream of undoing her life so she could finally find peace with herself and her actions. They didn't need to know that part.

Charles and Cecilia brought their hands to their mouths in expressions of horror, Houki looked down at the table, and Huang's mouth opened in shock as the table digested my news. That might have been a really blunt way of putting it, but they asked. Surprisingly, Laura was the first to speak up.

"My condolences," she said, staring me straight in the eyes. She wasn't just saying that- Laura wasn't the kind of girl to make meaningless gestures. Whether it was because she had lost a loved one herself or because she knew what it felt like when her idol Chifuyu-nee had left her, the silver-haired girl knew a part of what I must have felt and offered her sympathy freely. I knew I made the right choice in deciding to bring her into our group.

Of course, I wasn't all weepy over Saber or anything. I had saved her in the end, even if I hadn't saved her life. She was waiting in Avalon, her paradise, content with herself at last. It was really the best ending I could have possibly hoped for her.

"It's okay," I reassured everyone, "I'm over it already. She was happy with herself and content with her life so neither of us have any regrets with how it turned out."

Everyone looked sheepish as they apologized, despite my insisting that they didn't have to, and the mood of the table stayed dark. I thought I heard Houki mumble something about "needs someone to hold him and love him," and Cecilia muttered something that sounded like "such a troubled past... his family and then his first love... I have to heal him," but I couldn't be sure with how low their voices were.

I sighed, knowing I had ruined another perfectly good dinner. At least I'd be able to try Cecilia's cooking now. I picked up a strange sandwich with a filling I couldn't recognize by sight or smell and took a huge bite, savoring the taste in my...

"Grbble"

Things got a little hazy, and I cannot for the life of me recall what happened the rest of this day. Maybe I don't want to ever remember.

*chapter end

For those of you not familiar with Infinite Stratos, Cecilia's sandwiches are apparently some deadly British poison disguised as food. For Shirou, a lover of good food, it was just too much of a shock for his brain to handle. I hope he's okay.

As for the A.I.C.- in terms of real world physics it wouldn't work the way IS canon states it works. In the anime it clearly blocks both superheated air and lasers, neither of which have mass and therefor inertia, so it's not an inertia canceler at all. It's just a super-shield that blocks everything forever, something Shirou would give his left arm to have. There's an implied limit to its abilities in the light novels and I'm going to interpret that as "attacks strong enough can overpower it" so it's not a cheat mode weapon, it's just stupidly powerful.

Edit- people have said in my reviews that both air and lasers have a tiny amount of mass that the AIC could theoretically stop from moving, so maybe it does work as stated in the source material, but it's still basically plot magic at this point. "Stopping the vibration of molecules" puts it firmly in the realm of loltechnology, so I'm going to go with my own interpretation of the thing even if it's wrong. It's not like the device is even remotely theoretically possible with the technology we have today.

I'm sorry to cut a fight short yet again, but Shirou **will** be fighting real enemies soon so make do with my promises until then. He'll get to go GAR and pull out shiny weapons like the boss he is. He just doesn't like hitting little girls.


	9. Chapter 9

It was finally Friday evening, meaning that it was only a few hours and a good night's sleep before I could escape the insanity of the IS Academy and spend a couple days in the more normally insane Emiya household. Come to think of it, I don't get any rest do I? After a week of dodging Chifuyu-nee, flying crazy machines and dealing with really sheltered girls I come home to Ilya assaulting me, Sakura being more stubborn than a mountain, Fuji-nee complaining about my absence and Tohsaka teasing me about being surrounded by girls. I wonder how my mind and body keep up with this every week. Practice maybe?

"Lost in thought?" the cheerful blonde next to me asked, showing me his usual bright smile. Charles and I had just finished with our daily extra IS practice after school and were heading to the locker room together, the girls having split off to change in their own room. Even Laura had joined our makeshift training, though she seemed dismissive of the other pilots and only wanted to duel me.

"Nah, just thinking about the weekend. I'd like to take a rest, but Sakura will be coming over to help with the housework even if I tell her not to... Fuji-nee and Ilya will be showing up for food no matter what I say to them, plus Tohsaka said she still has something important to talk to me about and says she can't put it off anymore, so I'll have to squeeze that... why are you laughing?" Charles had started giggling during my explanation and was currently holding his sides in an attempt to keep himself steady while walking, shaking with repressed mirth at my problems. I didn't think the guy had it in him to laugh at other people's misfortune.

Wiping his eyes the young man turned to face me with something like wonder in his eyes. "You really can't figure it out, can you... no, that's wrong. The real reason is because you can't even imagine taking advantage of someone, right? That's why you always interpret people's actions in the most honest way possible. You don't even consider other explanations," the young boy said almost to himself. I wasn't quite sure what the boy was getting at but it seemed like he was missing some very important information.

"No no, the people in my household aren't taking advantage of me or anything. I actually owe all of them quite a lot, so even if I grumble about it I'm happy to pay them back in any way they want, so please don't get the wrong idea. They're all good girls," I added, seeing the suspicious look in his eyes.

"That's not what I... well, anyway. Are you free for a while?" The young man asked, clearly changing the subject. Not quite sure what just happened I nodded, having everything I'll need for my weekend trip back at home, so I had nothing to do for the rest of the night. "Could you-" Charles started, before coughing into his hand. "I think your Senken's targeting data is a little off, Emiya-senpai. I'm going to be doing some maintenance on my own machine after this, so do you want to come with me? I could help you out. I know you're not very good with calibrations and stuff," the young blonde said in a rush, his usual smile replaced with a fragile curl of his lips.

That was weird. Charles was definitely acting strange, but I couldn't think about anything in that conversation that could have made him act any differently than normal. Whatever it was I'd better calm the young man down.

"Yeah, I'm free. We probably shouldn't shower or change if we're going to do maintenance, so do you want to just head over to the workshop now?" The workshop was the common name for the large maintenance bay that stored the Academy's IS when they weren't in use and had all the necessary tools for fixing up damaged or maladjusted machines, making it the de facto hangout for the mechanics in the school. All of the personal machine holders, myself included, have been down there a few times to tune up our rigs. I figured that's where we'd be heading this time as well.

"Ye-yeah, let's go."

For some reason Charles seemed kind of disappointed that I'd agreed, but there was nothing I could do about that now. The two of us headed over to the workshop in an awkward silence, but because I didn't know the cause I had no idea what I should say or do to break out of it. The young man was biting his lip, obviously upset about something, but not saying anything to me either.

We arrived at the workshop and immediately caused a small stir among the female maintenance crew, the curious and driven girls treating us like puzzles to be solved to further their knowledge of how an IS operates instead of fellow students here to put in real work. It took the usual amount of effort to turn them aside and give myself some space to work on the floor, Charles silently standing next to me during the whole process instead of stepping in like he'd normally do. Now I was really worried.

The young man turned his sad eyes up to my own. "Emiya-senpai... you'll have to allow me access to Senken's systems in order for me to help you adjust it." He seemed to be silently pleading me for something, though I had no idea what. It wasn't like I minded giving him access to Senken- all the monitoring data and personal stuff about me was locked up in a way I couldn't get to anyway, so the only sensitive data Charles could ever see would be Senken's blueprints or the particulars of its construction. It's not like the son of an IS manufacturer would care about something as trivial as that; he undoubtedly sees different models of IS all the time.

I mentally commanded Senken to give Charles full access to its systems- the ones I could get to, anyway- and offered my wrist to the boy. Instead of being relieved he just seemed to get even more upset, his hands shaking as he took out a cord from his Raphael Revive and plugged it into my dormant machine. As the two machines synched and Charles started downloading my data he looked at the ground, a tear rolling down his cheek.

"Hey- are you feeling okay? What's wrong?"

"You just don't... you gave me full access to your data. All of it," Charles whispered, almost too softly for me to hear him.

I didn't know what he was getting at. Of course I gave him full access. He had a better idea of what data he'd need than I did, since he was the one who offered to help adjust my machine. I didn't know what to say to the crying, nonsensical boy, and ended up just standing there with a dumb look on my face.

"You're... a really trusting person, Emiya-senpai. Aren't you afraid I'll steal your machine's information?" Charles finally looked up at me, tears still forming in his eyes, and asked what was on his mind.

"No."

There was no need to doubt Charles. Why was he even worried about something so silly in the first place? There are certainly people who would pay ridiculous sums of money for something like a complete technical readout of a third generation IS, but there's no way the honest young man would steal that kind of thing from a friend and risk going to jail just for money.

Charles nodded, a few more teardrops spilling down the front of his face as he struggled to keep himself under control. "Yes, I thought you'd say that. I'm sorry. I'm just... going through something right now." He bit his lip, clearly not telling me everything, but I wasn't going to press him about it. It's not like he was _actually_ stealing my data- why would he even mention it if that was his goal? But it's possible that he did something similar in the past and got burned by his trust in someone else, and this is just reminding him of painful memories. Or something else, I don't know. I've never been good at reading people.

"You know I'm always here if you need anything, right?" Somehow I didn't think Charles was going to tell me what was wrong, but I offered anyway. Helping people is what I do.

Charles gave me the most heartbreakingly sad smile I've ever seen on the boy, the expression causing my breath to catch and my blood to freeze. He shouldn't be making an expression like that. It was wrong, fundamentally wrong, to see such a despairing face on someone whose smile was synonymous with joy. I might not be the brightest person in the room but even I could figure out that something important was happening here, something Charles couldn't handle on his own.

He quietly disconnected his cord from my Senken, dropping his gaze to the ground. "I'm sorry... I don't feel well. Can we save the maintenance for later?" It was obvious that he was only asking the question as a formality, since there was no way he could do something as complex as IS adjustments in the state he was in now. Still, I felt like I couldn't let him go. He was getting pale, sweat and tears dripping off his face as he wobbled uncertainly on his legs, the scent of blood filling the room like a nauseous cloud... wait, that last part was wrong.

The scent of blood had nothing to do with Charles. No- it wasn't just a smell. I could feel the air around me thickening, making my breaths come out in choking gasps, and simply moving my arms felt like I was plowing through molasses. All around the workshop I could see the mechanics and students gathered here sitting down or leaning on counters, panting heavily while losing the strength to support themselves. It didn't make sense. The only other time something like this happened-

-it was magic. Someone set up a Bounded Field in here that was draining the life out of all the people in the workshop. But how? Even a Servant like Rider needed days of preparation to set up a field this powerful, so who in the hell could put one together without me even noticing?

"Emiya...senpai... I really... don't feel well..."

Charles was barely staying on his feet, swaying dangerously as his legs started to fail him. I didn't have time to worry about what was going on, not if I was going to save everyone here from the parasitic magic that was even now feasting on their life force. I quickly wrapped my arm around Charles and activated Senken, ready to smash through the Bounded Field and carry everyone to safety.

Nothing happened. I looked down to see Senken, still on my wrist in its dormant state, flashing three words. **All systems down.** Well, that's just peachy. Before I could even consider what to do next a pair of voices spoke up from the other side of the workshop.

"All the surveillance equipment is off. Let's get started."

"Are you sure the Voice is going to kill them all? I don't want any survivors."

"Just worry about your own job and let the Voice deal with the living."

The two women, dressed like the other mechanics in the workshop, easily strolled through the struggling bodies of their supposed comrades before stopping in front of an IS currently being repaired. The first one was slightly older, maybe in her mid-thirties, and was currently typing at one of the holographic displays the engineers here seemed to favor so much. The second was approaching thirty herself and seemed to be wringing her hands nervously, staring at the IS like it was an abomination she wanted to kill.

During this time I had been gently laying Charles on the floor and taking in the condition of the rest of the girls here, cementing my hypothesis on the current situation.

"Trace, on."

I took a dozen or so steps toward the two women, flowing magic into my body to reinforce myself as much as I could. My bones became stronger, my muscles denser; my blood flowing faster, my eyes and ears sharper, my arms and legs lighter. The two women, focused on the IS in front of them, didn't even notice me approach until I called out to them.

"Turn it off. Now."

My voice felt like it was rusting, the dense air barely filling my lungs with each breath as I forced myself to talk. The women just looked up at me in shock before the younger one jumped up.

"I told you the Voice couldn't be trusted!" she yelled, taking a step toward me.

"That's what you're here for," her counterpart replied, not taking her eyes off the holographic display.

The younger woman placed her left hand on the floor and spoke a single word, causing her arm to split off from her body at the shoulder and extend, twisting and coiling and growing until it became an enormous serpent with three poisonous heads each the size of my forearm. I might have been impressed with the speed in which she formed the twenty foot long snake monster had it not been brought forth specifically to kill me.

Even with Senken offline I could still access its enormous power reserves, so with a second's concentration I flowed energy through my magic circuits and Projected one of my most useful swords. With innocent people all around me I couldn't bring out anything flashy or explosive, so I went with a sword based exclusively on melee combat, a sword I had been training with for months. Mono-hoshi-zao, the Japanese longsword used by Assassin.

Five feet of tempered steel appeared in my hands right as the serpent struck, and without conscious thought on my part the blade in my hand leaped upward to cleave one of the snake's heads as I threw myself to the left, a combination of Assassin's Traced skills in my sword and my own hard-earned survival instincts keeping me safe from the inhumanly quick attack. A shower of blood spewed from the serpent's central head as it fell to the ground, the two remaining heads turning and snapping at me again without even a second's pause. My sword whispered through the air, severing the top half of one of them even as I brought the hilt up to block the last one, its face smashing squarely into the hard steel just above my sword's grip. A flick of my wrist sent the last head flying, but the great serpent didn't fall over dead like I expected.

Instead it merely shrunk in length as it slithered back to the mage who originally sent it after me, who was currently chanting something I couldn't understand in a way that made me very uneasy. I wasn't about to let her finish. Charging forward I brought my longsword up in an overhand stance, keeping it out of my way while leaving it ready to slice through the skull of my foe if I had to. Right before I reached her she finished her aria.

The ground beneath me erupted into thrashing snakes, solid concrete abominations that twisted and writhed in ways something made of hard gravel shouldn't be allowed to. I didn't have time for this. Using the skill and grace of Assassin's swordsmanship I defended myself from the snapping limbs while continuing my charge, the look of triumph on my enemy's face shifting to horror as I barreled through her altered terrain and leveled my sword at her throat.

"Turn it off."

This mage wasn't powerful enough to sustain the Bounded Field that was killing everyone here. I knew that, but she might be able to tell whatever allies she had to turn it off if they cared about her at all.

"Shit, what do I do?"

The older of the two women calmly finished extracting the core from the IS she was taking apart, sparing a contemptuous glance for her captured comrade before answering. "Voice of Hunger, I have a feast for you!" she called, and I quickly realized she had pulled out almost all of the IS core's energy to perform some _serious _magic. The empty space next to her was instantly filled with a black IS that sported the same monstrously large arms and spindly fake human body that the previous unmanned drone was equipped with, but this one also carried an ornate breastplate covered in glowing runes and wicked claws on the ends of its arms. The smell of blood coming from the thing was strong enough to almost make me gag, and only my combat experience allowed me to keep my attention on all three of my opponents instead of retching on the ground.

"#&*A7-H 5%"

The monster roared something incomprehensible at me and charged, crossing the space between us in the blink of an eye as I hurriedly pulled my blade back up into a defensive posture before the thing could rip me apart. The woman I had previously captured used this opportunity to jump back from me as the monster closed in, its gigantic arm swinging at me with a force I couldn't even hope to match. With a snap of my wrists Mono-hoshi-zao leaped out and turned its claws aside, the massive IS slamming into and instantly shredding the concrete floor before righting itself again. As it turned to me I could feel the pull coming from its breastplate, the source of the life-draining magic that was still killing everyone in the room as I wasted time fighting. That breastplate was outside of the IS' shields- I could destroy it from here.

I took a deep breath and raised my sword, settling into the only stance I'd ever seen Assassin use. The enemy IS, either not sensing the change in my posture or not caring, charged with its whole body in an attempt to crush me. I slowly let out my breath, the world slowing down as I prepared to use a skill beyond my ability.

"Tsubame Gaeshi."

A slash to encircle the opponent. A vertical slash to cut off their escape. A horizontal slash to seal their fate.

My sword fractured and swung out in three different directions at once, defying the concepts of time and space as I attacked simultaneously from opposite angles and directions. It wasn't just a quick succession of three different slashes; that would be an insult to the technique. Rather, it was three simultaneous slashes that happened to originate from the same point of time and all reached through a different area of space, creating an invincible attack that couldn't be blocked or dodged.

Something must have fried in the machine's artificial brain as it tried to comprehend the attack, causing it to miss the opportunity for any kind of defense or counter-attack as my sword slashed it from three directions simultaneously. I sheared the breastplate into four pieces with the horizontal and vertical slashes, the force of the technique too powerful for mundane metal, but my encircling blow at its neck was stopped short by the shields. Even still, my attack was successful. The Bounded Field instantly dispersed, the overpowering stench of blood receding as this Voice stopped feeding on the lives of the innocent students.

"What the hell- this guy isn't normal! Shit, is he from the Association?" The younger woman started to panic, scattering droplets of blood from the three stumps on her hand where fingers used to be. "Shit shit, if he's from the Association we are so dead."

The IS had backed off, apparently waiting for orders, as the older woman gave me a calculating look. She took in the shattered breastplate on the floor, my own seemingly uninjured body, and the gleaming blade still clutched in my hands. This situation was certainly bad for me, having at least one mage and a fully armed IS to fight, but with the Bounded Field no longer functional the other students might start waking back up and witnessing the magic being thrown around which would get all of us killed. The older woman must have reached the same conclusion I did- without knowing just how long I could put up a fight they couldn't risk continuing.

"Tsk. We got one, so let's retreat." Right after she finished talking the IS scooped up both women, recalled its broken breastplate and bolted from the room, no doubt fleeing through an escape route they set up in advance. As much as I hated the idea of those would-be murderers getting away I didn't have any way of actually stopping them, and telling Academy security about them was absolutely out of the question. I just really hoped they managed to turn off every bit of surveillance like they claimed. Even as I thought about that Senken came back online, letting me know I was being observed once again. Whatever they had been doing to suppress the electronics in here had just been turned off.

I took a calming breath, waiting for the shaking in my arms and legs to subside enough for me to walk around. Tsubame Gaeshi was a technique far above my own ability, taking a toll on my body every time I used it. I was just glad none of my bones broke this time. Glancing at Mono-hoshi-zao I realized the blade looked even worse than I did, having bent and scratched due to my imperfect copy of the technique clashing against that IS' hard armor and shields, and I felt fortunate the sword hadn't snapped in half already.

After regaining control of my body I walked over to the prone form of Charles and made sure he was still breathing, checking the rest of the students in the workshop once I was finished with him. Like I had thought they were all completely fine, if a bit weak, and would probably be waking back up soon. The Bounded Field that monster set up must have been quite a bit less powerful than the one Rider had used, since none of the girls here were in a life-threatening condition and they weren't melting either. Stopping that monster so quickly had certainly helped as well.

With all the innocent girls safe I had a new objective: find out who those bastards were and stop them. I mentally categorized everything I knew of them. They have at least two mages, the one that I fought and the one that had summoned the unmanned drone, and they aren't with the Magic Association if I can believe their reactions. They have at least one unmanned IS, with a core they either created or stole, and now have at least a second core after today. They have the ability to shut down all technological devices around them with either magic or science. They have no problem killing witnesses to help them steal IS cores, which seems to be their objective.

Most importantly, they knew how to use an IS core to power magic. True, the cores were basically a godsend to mages, holding a vast amount of potential energy and recharging themselves after only a few hours, but I was surprised there were magicians who would so brazenly attack the Academy itself. Even if they could keep anyone from seeing them use magic during the actual theft, how did they expect to keep hidden with the entire world after them? The world's governments took everything IS related very seriously, almost psychotically so, and wouldn't hesitate to send their entire armies after someone who had swiped a dozen or so cores from the Academy.

Then again, with that much magical energy they might not care. I didn't know much about high-level magecraft and even less about True Magic, so it was always possible they had actual counter-measures available with essentially unlimited magic at their disposal. Wait... since the cores recharged themselves, they really could have unlimited magic, couldn't they? Tohsaka could store magical energy into jewels, and she said that other families of magi could store magic in other containers, so if they continuously drained and stored the entire capacity of a dozen IS cores a few times a day...

Well, they'd pretty much be Gods at that point.

I mean, what couldn't you do with unlimited magic? Summoning every Heroic Spirit that ever existed to fight for you, accessing other worlds to steal even more IS cores, raining fire down onto entire continents- even with my poor grasp of magecraft I could imagine the horrible possibilities a bunch of homicidal mages could unleash without any kinds of restraints on their actions. The rules of thaumaturgy would no longer apply if they had an unlimited power source either, so even if they told the whole world about magic it wouldn't harm them in the slightest.

Okay, so there's an unknown group of mages who are willing to fight the entire world in a gamble to obtain unlimited power. Now that I know, what can I do about it? I don't have the resources or talents to find them, I'm recorded every second of the day, the only legitimate authority I could contact might make things even worse, there are hundreds of other places the bad guys could get a hold of more cores, they know my face and location now, and time was working against me.

My advantages: I could probably beat them in a fight.

At that point two girls pushed the workshop door open and entered, halting their conversation as they saw the bodies scattered around the floor and draped over various tables and chairs. They both shrieked and ran out of the room before I could compose myself enough to call out to them, so I resigned myself to what would happen next. Sure enough Chifuyu-nee strolled in a minute later, taking in the condition of the girls sprawled everywhere and the gouges in the concrete floor before locking her gaze onto mine, approaching me in her usual fashion. A small group of school nurses and other staff filed in behind her, hurriedly checking on the girls who were just now starting to wake up.

"You better have a good explanation this time, Emiya."

I nodded, having rehearsed this while waiting for her. "Like the rest of the students here I suddenly fell unconscious, but I woke up before the rest of them. Two older women were stealing the core from one of the Academy's IS units so I threatened them with a sword, but they had an unmanned IS with them that attacked the ground to intimidate me and carried the women off. I then went around making sure everyone else was okay."

Chifuyu-nee was furious. Something dangerous and important had just happened in her academy and I wasn't going to tell her anything about it, adding to the already long list of things she knew I was keeping from her. I didn't know how much longer she was going to restrain herself before she attempted to beat the answers out of me, but it looked like she was going to be reaching that point pretty soon.

Still, with no recordings of what happened and no witnesses there wasn't anything she could do about it even if she knew I was lying. The school couldn't accuse me of helping steal an IS core without major repercussions, and even admitting to anyone outside the school that one of their precious cores were stolen would make them seem weak and unreliable, causing problems for themselves. I doubted the theft would ever be reported.

I just hoped the questioning wouldn't take very long, since I needed to go home tomorrow and get Tohsaka to help me save the world. Again.


	10. Chapter 10

As I stepped off the train platform in central Fuyuki City, the press of bodies momentarily distracted me from the depressing thoughts that had been circling around in my head for the last few hours. The slow train ride home gave me plenty of time to ponder what had happened the day before, and what I could do about it, but my available range of options had yet to get past 'ask Tohsaka' and I had no idea what kind of help I could get from her with only a description of my attackers and vague conjectures of their overall goal. This was looking more and more hopeless the more I thought about it, but I didn't have anything else to occupy my attention right now.

At least I was almost there. My foul mood kept me company for the half hour or so walk to Tohsaka's house, my attention clearly elsewhere as my feet took me through the familiar path. Before I even registered what I was doing I was standing in front of Tohsaka's mansion, and it took me a few seconds to compose myself before I knocked on the door. A few moments later the door opened, revealing Tohsaka in her school uniform, wearing the same polite expression she reserved for her school friends and people she didn't really know well.

"Emiya-kun, it's so nice to see you. Do come in, I've prepared everything."

The way she said 'prepared' clued me into the situation, though I wasn't sure what she was getting at. When I had informed the pragmatic mage about all the surveillance I'd be under she immediately set to work devising some counter-measures that would give us the ability to talk in times of an emergency, and the first things she made were a series of coded phrases that would allow us to pass along information without listeners understanding us. She just told me she had everything set up for a private conversation, though that didn't make sense because I hadn't told her anything about the attack at IS Academy yet.

She might have just set it up in case we needed it, though I got the distinct feeling that whatever Tohsaka wanted to talk about involved magic, and magic usually meant something bad was happening. I refrained from commenting as Tohsaka led me into one of the guest rooms, the long table inside already furnished with everything we'd need to confound the highly technical recording device strapped to my wrist; A blanket, a notebook, and two pens.

We both sat down at the table, Tohsaka's worried expression mirroring my own. Neither of us said anything for a minute, but finally Tohsaka collected herself and began. Without preamble she picked up the blanket and started wrapping it around my arm, winding the opaque cloth over my dormant IS again and again, shutting off any light that would reach the device. Even though Senken's recorders were all 3D holographic cameras, it needed light to function. With a blanket covering the entire thing it simply couldn't record any kind of video, effectively blinding anyone trying to see what was happening. The second part of our brilliant plan involved writing things down instead of saying them out loud, making the sound recorders useless as well.

When Tohsaka was satisfied with the now enormous blankety prison my arm was encased in she turned her attention to the notepad, biting her lip as she scribbled down one sentence and passed it to me.

'Ilya is going to die in three months.'

I stared at the paper for what must have been a solid minute, my brain failing to comprehend the simple message. My hand felt like it was made of lead as I wrote my response and pushed the notebook back.

'What?'

Tohsaka didn't look like she was enjoying this any more than I was, but she wrote what looked like a novel as I stared at her face. This wasn't a joke. The last time I had seen Tohsaka look like that we were discussing the Grail War, and I knew enough about her personality to realize she was completely serious about this. My sense of anxiety only grew as she kept writing, but eventually she passed the paper back to me and I could understand what was going on.

'You've been mostly gone for the past few months, so you probably haven't noticed, but Ilya's body and mind are deteriorating. As a homunculus her body and soul were tampered with to serve as a vessel for as the Grail and as a Master, but a long lifespan wasn't something her family cared about. They built her to withstand the immense burden of hosting the souls of the defeated Servants only as long as it was necessary for her to win the War- they expected her to win and then die, fulfilling her roles as both the Einzbern Master and as the vessel for the Holy Grail. Frankly, her body is disintegrating. No mortal body could hold that kind of power without breaking, and Ilya has about three months left before she completely dies.

The only thing that could save her now is a miracle like the Third Magic; also called Heaven's Feel, it was the only known way of restoring the dead to life with no negative consequences. But that's not something we can do easily. The entire Holy Grail War was the original ritual for completing Heaven's Feel, so you can see how complex and difficult it would be to cast something like that, let alone trying to create and complete something new in the small time frame we have. Ilya herself knows how to complete the spell and could probably teach me how to do it before she dies, but we simply don't have the resources to enact a ritual of enough complexity and power to make it work.

Ilya didn't want me to tell you this, since you'd only worry and couldn't really help us, but I don't think we'll be able to save her. I'm trying everything I can, but it just isn't enough. I just... I just wanted you to know, so you could do the right thing. Don't worry about me or Sakura for the next few months. If I can't save Ilya, at least you can make her happy before she dies. She just wants to spend time with her onii-chan, you know?'

I read through the whole thing twice, trying to force my brain to understand. There were a dozen things I wanted to ask, demand, or simply yell, but I settled on the most constructive thing I could with my head buzzing around like this.

'What do you need in order to cast the Third Magic?'

Tohsaka, being unable to adopt her traditional pose when lecturing me about magic, looked far less elegant than usual as she wrote down the answer and passed it back to me.

'There are four things we need to make it work. The first is knowledge of how to perform the Magic itself, but Ilya has that covered. The second thing we need is a ritual- something to give our raw power form and function so we can shape it into the Magic we want. This can be skipped if we have enough magical power to begin with, which might be necessary in our case because we simply don't have the time to make an entirely new ritual.

Next we need a vessel for Ilya's soul, but thankfully Ilya already has a doll of excellent craftsmanship that should work perfectly. The last thing we need is power itself, the necessary magical energy to pour into the ritual to complete it. That's the biggest problem right there, even more so than the lack of a ritual. We don't have anywhere near enough power right now.'

I read through her answer carefully, making sure to understand every last part of it. I couldn't afford to misunderstand something crucial when Ilya's life was on the line. After my third read-through of the entire conversation, I decided I grasped the situation enough to make the offer I had in mind.

'Tohsaka. The IS core attached to my arm is basically a jewel, right? Can you use the energy from it to power magic?'

She stared in shock at the paper after I passed it back to her, and hastily scribbled a response.

'Isn't that thing recording you? And besides, no matter how much energy it has it doesn't even come close to what we need, so that's not going to solve our problems.'

'Just try it. Don't do anything that could be seen or heard, but see if you can use it.'

I had good reason to think Tohsaka, who specialized in jewels, could use the jewel-like IS core even more effectively than the mages I had recently fought. If she could, I had a plan.

Tohsaka scowled when she read my latest note, but dutifully packed away the notebook and started undoing the blanket around my IS. When my dormant IS was finally uncovered she placed her right hand directly on the jewel and closed her eyes, feeling the sense of power emanating from it. Only a second later she took her hand away and bundled me back up, bringing out the notebook again to continue our conversation.

'Yes. I'm amazed at how compatible that thing is with magic, but it's still way less than what we need. If you could get me thirty-five or forty of them, fifty to be on the safe side, we could use those to entirely power the ritual, but isn't getting even one of those a big deal?'

'I wouldn't be able to get that many real cores, but I could Project enough of them.'

'Am I supposed to answer that seriously? Your Projections only last a few hours and you'd die far before you could make fifty in the time frame we need.'

'Um... actually, I can save Projected items for later use now. I kind of made Senken into my familiar and it can store things in a sub-dimension not bound by Gaia's rules, an action that allows me to pull them out at a later date with no deterioration. It's a long story, but my IS is giving me the prana I need to Project everything I'd need and I can store them indefinitely, so I could make that many cores.'

I was painfully aware that the only reason Tohsaka wasn't giving me an earful of abuse was because of our need for silence, but her glare promised eventual punishment for my actions. Still, it's a good thing everything happened this way, right? Otherwise we'd be in way more trouble trying to save Ilya.

'Again; aren't you being monitored all the time? How do you plan on doing this without your owners noticing?'

Ah. I knew I was forgetting something.

'I'll think of a way. When do I need to have them by? Will fifty be enough, or would more be better?'

Tohsaka bit her lip, mulling over the question in her head. 'Fifty should be fine, but honestly, I'm just guessing at this point. The amount of magic we need is something far outside of my area of expertise, and the Tohsaka family has never been in possession of a True Magic, so I'm basing all of my assumptions on how much energy the Heroic Spirits that originally powered the ritual possessed when we fought them. Fifty of these jewels _should_ be enough, far more than necessary actually, but the more you can get the better chances we will have if my assumptions are wrong.

I'd like to get started as soon as possible, but I still need to learn how to perform the Magic itself from Ilya. We're both genius mages, though, so it shouldn't take too long. We'll set the ritual date at two months from today, which should give us enough time to prepare without endangering Ilya's life by stalling too much.'

So in other words Ilya can be saved if I Project at least fifty copies of Senken's core in two months without the Academy staff noticing, without Tabane interfering, without anyone else noticing me break the most important part of the Alaska Treaty, and all while trying to keep up appearances at school.

'Two months. I'm counting on you, Tohsaka.'

Tohsaka gave me a rather chilly look.

'So about this turned your IS into a familiar thing.'

Oh boy. Well, this was the reason I came here in the first place, right? I spent the next few minutes detailing all of the things that had happened at the Academy, from Senken's connection to my magic circuits all the way up to the sudden attack of the unknown mages, trying to include every detail that Tohsaka might find important. When I was done, she studied what I wrote with her usual intensity.

'It's not really as bad as you think, Emiya-kun. Transferring magic to receptacles like jewels isn't nearly as easy or simple as I make it look, and very few established families outside of the Tohsaka can do it on the level I can. Many can't do it at all. The cost of making mystic codes capable of holding large amounts of prana keeps most families from experimenting with it in the first place, so not many people have the knowledge to create them either. It's always possible the particular mages you fought have that knowledge, but then why didn't they use it in the fight with you? They're most likely just using the immense natural capacity of the IS cores directly, like when that mage teleported the unmanned IS in.'

Tohsaka's explanation, while reasonable, didn't quite make sense. Those mages were willing to make enemies of the whole world in order to steal those IS cores, so they had to be planning _something_ with them. Of course, even if those mages didn't have the ability to store the excess magic, each and every core came packed full of more magic than any mage possessed naturally and refilled themselves in only a few hours, so it was possible what they intended to do didn't require any storage at all if they stole enough cores in the first place.

'Tohsaka. Do you know of any ritual that would require a few dozen of these cores that would be worth that kind of risk?'

'I don't know. It depends on what their goal is and what kind of knowledge they have, something I have no way of knowing. But there are a few hundred of these cores, right? With enough of them they could do some really scary stuff. We won't know what they want until they make a move.'

That was what worried me. Just like when I was in the Grail War, I couldn't find the enemy Masters that were targeting innocent people on my own. I'd have to wait for them to make a move noticeable enough for me to react in time and confront them in the act. I was slightly consoled by the fact that most IS cores were held individually and with large amounts of security, so the chances of them trying anything so soon after their failure at the Academy were pretty slim.

'So you can't find them?'

'They're not a part of the Association, if what you said was true, and you didn't bother getting me any of the blood they left behind either. I can't find them any more than you can.'

It looked like I'd just have to wait until they revealed themselves before acting.

"It's getting late, Emiya-kun. Should we head back to your place? I'm sure Ilya, Fujimura-sensei and Sakura are all waiting for you," Tohsaka said, breaking the silence we were under.

"You're right."

It looked like our strategy meeting was over, and even though I still didn't have a plan to stop those rogue mages it wouldn't do me any more good talking about them. I'd just have to wait until I had more information about them. In the meantime I had to find a way to Project and store fifty very illegal copies of an IS core without the people watching me knowing about it, something I had no idea how to accomplish. I guess it was about time to take Tabane up on her offer.

I excused myself from Tohsaka and headed into another room, on the off chance that Tohsaka wasn't already implicated in my sordid reputation at school.

"Call Tabane."

"Hi hi Shi~chan, what took you so long? I wanted to talk to you!"

Tabane's energetic and slightly childish voice erupted from Senken's speakers as soon as I called her, her tone reminding me more of Ilya than a woman who was supposedly my senior. Still, despite all her strange mannerisms this woman was quite possibly the only person who could help me out right now, so I tried to treat her with as much professional respect as I could manage.

"Good evening, Shinonono-san. I'm sorry for not calling earlier, but-"

"Never mind that boring stuff! You called because you want something, right? Ri~ght? What could you possibly want from the great genius Tabane-sama?"

Her interruption caught me off guard, but I quickly recovered myself. "I was actually hoping you could do me a favor. A couple of favors, actually."

"Of course! What do you want, Shi-chan?"

"First, we need to talk in a way that the sound and video recorders on Senken can't record. Can you do that?"

"Absolutely! Just give me a minute here~."

A few seconds later a message popped up from Senken. **Recording devices offline.** Not one to waste an opportunity I immediately used Structural Analysis on Senken, finding out exactly what had changed from when the devices were on to when they were off. Like I had thought, the recording equipment was separate from the actual workings of the IS, so while I couldn't have affected them before I now had working knowledge of how to turn the damn things off. Assuming the equipment wasn't changed or modified at all after this conversation.

"Done! So what did you want to talk about, Shi-chan?"

There wasn't any way around this- I absolutely had to tell Tabane what I was about to do or she could ruin everything. She had already taken control of my machine once, after all, and there was nothing stopping her from doing it again. She could easily take out all the stored cores I was going to put into Senken, or alert the Academy and get me thrown into jail, or pursue any number of equally terrible actions. I had to make sure she wouldn't be fighting me on this.

"In order to save someone close to me I am going to create and store a lot of IS cores in Senken's subspace. Please, let me do this. I won't-"

"Hahahaha, silly Shi-chan! No one can create cores except for me!" Tabane's giggling interrupted my request, her obvious disbelief of my declaration evident in her amused tone. Well, that was fine too.

"Then, in the improbable event that some core-like objects were stored in Senken's database, will you promise me not to interfere with them? You are the only person I can't lock out of Senken's systems, so I need your word that you will not tell anyone about this or take the cores out of my subspace. This is more important to me than my own life. Please."

"Mmm~ Shi-chan is so serious. Fine, fine, I promise. But this is a favor, right? So now you owe me one! I'll be sure to collect it~" and with that final ominous promise, the great genius Tabane ended our conversation. Unsurprisingly all of Senken's recording devices came back online a moment later, letting me know that Tabane was done talking with me. What was up with that? She said she waited for me to call but abruptly ended our talk by herself without even asking any questions.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I didn't know if I could trust Tabane or not, but at this stage I had little choice in the matter. The only thing I could do was forge ahead with the plan to save Ilya and hope everything worked out. I knew how to turn the recording devices in Senken off now, and no one except me and Tabane could access the cores after they were stored in my sub-space, so I could effectively disguise the cores as other objects and store them in secret.

That was the theory, anyway. Time to test it out.

Trace, on.

I focused my attention on Senken, feeling the flow of prana from my circuits to the machine. It was part of me now- with a thought I switched the recording devices off, and a thorough Structural Analysis revealed that everything worked the way I hoped it would. Next I focused on my Projection, bringing each and every tiny detail of Senken's core to the front of my mind, perfectly recalling and replicating the shape, history, forging, and all other aspects of the powerful little jewel. I could feel myself draining energy from my machine's original core to power my magic, giving shape to the image in my mind. A second later I was holding a perfect copy of Senken's core in my hand.

I was exhausted. A quick check revealed that I had used only a tiny fraction of Senken's actual power reserve, but that was way more prana than I should be channeling through my magic circuits anyway. There was no need to rush creating the rest of the cores, since I needed to make far more than I could in one sitting anyway, so I counted this experiment as a success and prepared to join back up with Tohsaka. After storing the newly created jewel as a generic sword in Senken's database and turning the surveillance back on, I headed back towards the living room where the genius mage was waiting for me.

*break

Monday morning rolled around without anything else exciting happening, something for which I was grateful. I had enough on my plate already, trying to save Ilya and stop a group of crazy mages from stealing IS cores to do who knows what with them. Still, some things need to be done, so I spent the first half hour after I woke up training my body like I did every day to prepare myself for whatever life decided to throw at me.

"Do you work out every morning?" Charles asked, breaking my concentration.

I was just about done anyway, so I stopped my current set and looked up at the young man. It was obvious that he had just woken up, since he was still in his bed with the covers on, but he had a slight flush for some reason.

"Yeah, you never know when you'll need to be at your best. I'm not waking you, am I?"

The young blonde shook his head, a slight smile creeping along his lips.

"No, I'm an early riser too. I'm not nearly as diligent as you are, though."

Something seemed... a little off about Charles today. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen him since the incident in the workshop. He should be completely recovered at this point, but then again I wasn't exactly a genius with magecraft, so I could be wrong about how powerful that Bounded Field had been.

"How are you feeling? Are you still faint from..." I almost said "the attack," but realized that I actually didn't know what official explanation was yet. I left the Academy right after my interrogation was over, so I had no idea what lie they'd decided on, assuming they weren't telling people the truth.

Charles gave me another half-smile. "No, I'm fine, Emiya-senpai. Would you like to use the shower first? We still have some time before everyone comes over."

That was it! There was something wrong with his smile. Normally I could feel a sense of calmness and purity of spirit coming from his smile, but right now I couldn't feel anything it all. It was like he stretched his lips into the form of the thing without any of the feeling. He must have been more affected by the life-stealing spell he was under than I had thought, if it could sap his liveliness to this degree.

"Ah, yeah. Thanks. Try to cheer up, okay? I'm here if you need anything."

A strange expression flashed across his face, and if anything the young man looked even more tired than before.

"Thank you, Emiya-senpai."

I was more than a little worried for the gentle boy, but there wasn't much else I could offer him. I'd just have to make sure my breakfast was stuffed full of nutrition and energy so he'd get some of his strength back.

After I showered Charles took his turn, keeping his eyes averted from my bare chest like he usually did. It was only a few minutes of work to put on a clean uniform and lay out all of this morning's ingredients, but after I started cooking I lost all sense of time. Laura, Houki, Huang and Cecilia all let themselves in, the door remaining unlocked after our showers, and I absent-mindedly called out greetings to everyone as they made themselves comfortable at our table. Surprisingly, I noticed that the atmosphere was kind of tense even in my cooking-induced haze, but again I put that down to the incident in the workshop that left a few dozen of their classmates in the nurse's office for a couple days.

I brought the food out to everyone, and after we sat down all the girls, minus Laura, looked at me expectantly.

"Um... how were your weekends?"

"Who cares? Who are you going to partner with for the tournament this weekend?" Huang yelled, being the first to answer. I looked blankly at her, not comprehending her meaning.

"Shirou-san, weren't you going to have your answer today? It's bad manners to break a promise with a lady."

Tournament? Oh yeah, there was supposed to be a big inter-class partner tournament this Saturday, and the three girls all currently glaring at me wanted to be on my team. They had even gone as far as preparing elaborate bribes for me, and while I was certainly the strongest first year pilot I really had to question their desire to win. Though as Representative Cadets they may well have to win, or at least out up a good showing, to keep their titles after this internationally broadcasted event so I could understand where they were coming from, even if I didn't really approve of their methods.

Still, they were all my friends. I probably should have thought about this beforehand.

"What are you second-raters talking about? I have already received orders from the Instructor to partner with Emiya during the tournament," Laura interrupted, apparently oblivious to the delicate social situation I was currently trapped in.

"What? No way! Emiya-san already agreed it would be one of the three of us!" Huang countered.

Actually, I never agreed to that at all. I had the feeling no one would pay attention if I voiced that thought out loud, so I didn't.

"Hmph. Your objections are meaningless. The outcome has already been decided," the German girl stated, turning to me. "You will be my partner in the tournament. At least you won't drag me down like the rest of the civilians here."

With her declaration over she returned to the food, eating with the vigor of someone used to wolfing down meals in a hurry. Why did Chifuyu-nee order her to partner with me? It's not like she could observe me better than the cameras in the arena, and there wasn't any other... hold on. What if Chifuyu-nee was just doing this to help Laura? Certainly the foreign girl didn't have any intentions of partnering with anyone herself, and if I'm the only person whose piloting skills she respected in the whole first year class then I was the only person she'd actually work with. Sometimes I forgot that Chifuyu-nee was actually a very responsible woman who cared for the welfare of her students.

"I understand. Let's do our best, Laura."

The three other girls immediately let out a cry of protest, but Charles cut in before they could really start lecturing me.

"Well, it can't be helped, right? It's an order from Orimura-sensei. And even if we can't be Emiya-san's partner we can at least show him how much we've improved as pilots, right?" the boy said, coming to my rescue. I didn't even need to hear him finish; whenever the charming young man spoke up I was instantly saved from whatever situation I found myself in. He was like a social life-jacket. What did I ever do without him?

"That's true... and it's not like Bodewig-san has any interest in Shirou-san herself, so none of us actually lost," Cecilia commented. That was true- Laura only partnered with me due to orders, not because she wanted to personally, which meant that future situations like this wouldn't end up with her monopolizing my skill. The last bits of tension drained from the table as everyone seemed to be satisfied by the current situation. I made a mental note to repay Charles for this in the future.

"So, who is everyone going to team up with now? There are four of us here, and none of us have partners..." Charles began, looking around the table.

"Rin and I decided we'd pair up if things didn't work out," Houki stated, nodding at the diminutive girl across from her. Those two had gotten pretty close lately, mostly bonding over good food. Both of them liked to cook, though not as much as I did.

"I'd be honored if you would be my partner, Alcott-san," Charles said, taking the social clue.

"I'd be delighted, Dunois-san," she replied. The two high-class pilots got along pretty well themselves, though I wasn't sure if that was just their impeccable manners or if they actually liked each other. In any case it seemed everything had been decided, so we all turned our collective attention back to the food I had cooked and began eating.

Even with the normal chatter during our meal, a little thought kept niggling in the back of my brain. 58 days, 48 more cores before the ritual to save Ilya.

*chapter end

The whole "Ilya is dying" thing is actually canon, by the way. Her stated lifetime is about a year after the events of Fate/Stay Night, so six months after F/SN ends is the start of this story, plus two and a half months passing in the story means she's got roughly three months left before her homunculus body fails. I'm sorry for introducing the solution for this before the problem, but I made that particular plot before remembering about Ilya and decided that Shirou would obviously save her if he had the ability, so it became like this.

Also, I'm aware that the original power of the Grail comes from a loophole where a path to Akasha opens up when the souls of defeated heroes return the the Throne, but that only matters for the wish-granting part of the Grail. Ilya is shown to be able to cast the Third Magic without the Grail- in a bad end where she sticks Shirou's soul into a doll and again in the Heaven's Feel route when she sacrifices herself to save him from dying, without actually completing the Holy Grail ritual. So it's obvious that she knows _how_ to cast the magic, she just must not have enough power to do so normally. Hence the traditional Einzebern solution to the problem- throw enough magical power at it until it stops being a problem.

Edit- for some reason the symbols I used to show writing didn't show up, so I changed them to single quotes. Sorry about the confusion, hopefully it's much more readable now.


	11. Chapter 11

The last week was surprisingly uneventful. Chifuyu-nee had traveled somewhere on some sort of official business, sparing me from whatever interrogation she would have given me for frequently cutting off surveillance from Senken as I Projected cores whenever I could. Even my friends, who were normally rambunctious and visited me frequently, only came around for meals and spent most of their time and energy training for the upcoming tournament. In short, nothing major happened in the week between meeting Tohsaka and the inter-class tournament.

Laura and I didn't even train together- she told me "There are no opponents that would require your help," and further explained just how she planned on conquering all her opponents by herself. My part of Laura's strategy apparently involved staying out of her way and warning her if the opposing team tried hitting her from behind or with a sneak attack of some sort. Not actually helping, just acting as a second set of eyes. That suited me perfectly, since I was much more concerned with saving Ilya than with competing in this dumb sport, and it let me save my energy and concentration for my Projections instead of trying to improve our teamwork.

When Saturday did roll around, it found me with a much more positive outlook than I possessed the previous weekend. I was producing cores far faster than I needed to in order to make the deadline, and with every extra I could make the chances of completing the ritual went up. The absence of Chifuyu-nee also helped my mood considerably.

"Try to avoid being eliminated. It would be insulting if you lost to anyone but me."

Laura gave me a short pep talk before our first match, consisting of those two sentences before we started up our respective IS units. It might have been my imagination, but she seemed to be much more friendly since she started sharing meals with us; having people cook her delicious food every day must have improved her disposition toward us considerably, to the point where she stopped insulting the other girls almost completely.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, dimly hearing the roar of the crowd in the arena as the match before ours came to a conclusion. Charles and Cecilia had steamrolled their much less experienced opponents in only a few minutes, leaving us little time to prepare for our own fight. We would be facing some girls from class 3, though I had never heard of them before. I didn't think they'd match up against the German powerhouse next to me in any case.

The buzzer sounded and the arena doors opened, and before I could even assess the battlefield Laura rocketed out and trained her railgun on the opposing team's door.

Simply put, it was a slaughter.

The two inexperienced girls didn't know what to do when Laura immediately opened fire on them, raining shots into both of their shields before they even started gaining altitude from the small confines of the arena door they were entering from. Without any room to maneuver they quickly panicked, sealing their fates as Laura mercilessly shredded their defenses in record time.

It took about fifteen seconds to end the match. That wasn't really an accomplishment, though, as everyone but the personal IS holders had very little flying experience at this point. It was only a few months after the start of their first year, and this tournament was mostly for the third years who were looking for serious IS employment, not the first years who were just getting their bearings with the machines.

"About what I expected from this school." Laura, as usual, wasn't impressed with the quality of the first year pilots.

"It looks like we won't be fighting Charles and Cecilia until the semi-finals, and the winner of that fight will face Huang and Houki in the finals. They must have deliberately set up the strong fighters to face off at the end of the tournament..."

"Hmph, the order doesn't matter. There's no way I could lose to any of these civilians."

Laura's confidence was truly something to behold. Still, it wasn't exactly unwarranted. Only our fellow personal machine holders could even hope to challenge Laura in terms of skill, and her advanced third-generation IS gave her a significant advantage in firepower and defense over the rest of our schoolmates who were stuck with the old school models. I didn't think she'd even break a sweat until we encountered Charles and Cecilia in the semi-finals.

"Well, we've got a while until our next match. I've brought snacks, would you like-"

"Yes."

I couldn't help but smile at Laura's abrupt response. She has yet to turn down any food I've offered her, and her completely honest personality meant every compliment, spoken or not, was sincere. The fact that she prefers my food more than any other spoke volumes. We ate in silence, watching the next few matches on the screen in our ready room without any real interest. IS matches were pretty quick in general, especially among amateurs, so it wasn't even half an hour until we were up again.

Once again, Laura devastated our opponents easily and returned to the ready room without even breathing hard. The next match, and the one after that were the same. I didn't even bother to bring out a weapon or shield for those two. Unfortunately, the next match was the semi-finals. I wasn't looking forward to actually facing my friends in the arena, but there wasn't much I could do about it now.

The buzzer sounded, and the doors opened, but Laura wasn't the first one out this time. Charles shot out first, his slightly faster machine allowing him to gain altitude on Laura's heavier craft in the first few seconds. He even smirked at her, something I wouldn't have expected from the polite boy, until I realized he was baiting her. Cecilia had stayed at ground level, using the solid surface to help steady her aim at the rapidly climbing German.

I was impressed by the teamwork those two displayed. Cecilia's IS was already a hard counter against Laura's, seeing as she had four extremely mobile drones that could hit Laura from different directions, negating the awesomely powerful AIC field, but the opposing team seemed to have developed that strategy further. Charles was purposefully allowing Laura to close into melee with him so that she wouldn't notice Cecilia firing. Risky, but they could overwhelm her pretty easily with the amount of firepower they could bring to bear against the single machine.

"Laura, break off."

The only response she gave was a snarl, apparently deciding to ignore our previous strategy as she dove in to slash Charles. The young man brought up a shield to protect himself right as Laura crashed into him, nullifying her attack and leaving her open.

Four bright blue lances of energy stabbed into Laura from all sides, knocking her off balance and allowing Charles time to materialize a heavy machine gun, which he immediately started unloading into Laura as she tried to disengage. She quickly brought her AIC up to block the stream of lead pouring straight into her shields, but the drones around her continued to batter her from above, behind and from both sides with a steady barrage of lasers.

Her shields dipped down to a little over two hundred energy, but she finally freed herself from their trap and dove out of the way, weaving around the pattern of lasers while keeping her focus on Charles. With an unusually grim expression on his face the blonde pilot was tracking Laura's movements while sighting down a powerful rifle, ready to hit her hard if she tried to turn her attention to Cecilia below. It was an amazingly effective combination, designed entirely around shutting Laura down.

With the four drones attacking from all sides and Charles limiting her options, Laura was in a severely disadvantageous position. Even worse, she was losing her temper, and both her opponents were attempting to goad her into another reckless assault. Even so, Laura wasn't an ace pilot for nothing. She was dodging the vast majority of the lasers directed at her while keeping her attention focused on the more powerful weapon Charles was sporting.

"Huh... I wonder if you could even hit me once before you lose this match." Charles taunted, the usually kind boy smirking at his distressed opponent. Sure enough, his gambit worked, and Laura accelerated straight toward him.

"Don't look down on me, you second-rater! I'll crush you!"

Two whip-daggers shot at Charles, wrapping themselves around both of his ankles as Laura shot forward, energy blades already in hand. Far from trying to dodge, however, Charles was calmly waiting for Laura to finish closing in. Right before she slashed his shield to ribbons, blue energy once again erupted on either side of the German girl and slammed into her torso. Right as she lost her balance, Charles uncovered his secret weapon- a Shield Pierce, basically a spike that was thrust into its target and then extended forward by an explosion, resulting in an attack that absolutely wrecked IS shields.

I winced as the gentle boy drove the spike straight into Laura's abdomen, activating the explosive boost to smash through her shields and end the match. The first hit didn't finish it like I expected, though. With barely a sliver of shield energy left, Laura appeared to be reeling from the impact, but Charles didn't give her time to recover. He closed the distance to her again, preparing to ram that spike into her once more.

"Charles, stop! You could seriously hurt her with that thing."

I wasn't supposed to interfere, but I really didn't want to see Laura get seriously injured when attacked with a powerful weapon while her shields were so low. Charles, perhaps surprised at hearing my voice, stumbled in the air before halting his last offensive.

"I can't lose here... I can't... I can't lose like this..."

Laura seemed to be a bit more affected by the exchange than I previously thought. Her shield should have protected her, right? I flew closer, concerned for the small girl.

"AhhhhhHHHHHHHGGHHH!"

Liquid metal started pouring out of Laura's machine, surrounding the diminutive girl in a sheath of armor unlike anything I'd ever seen before . A burst of wind followed, rocking Charles and me back as lighting began to crackle around her suit, a horrible grating sound filling the air as the metal squirmed around the girl. This... wasn't something that was supposed to happen.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

The only thing that mattered was that Laura was in trouble, and I needed to save her.

"Shirou-san, what's going on? What's happening to Bodewig-san?" A panicked Cecilia had flown up next to us, concern written on her face as she watched Laura's transformation.

Trace, on.

"Emiya-senpai, do you know what's happening?" Charles was just as shaken up.

Judging the concept of creation. Hypothesizing the basic structure.

"Shirou-san, don't just stand there! Answer me!"

Laura- or should I say the Valkyrie Trace system- finished converting Schwarzer Regen into a slate gray weapon of mass destruction, vaguely in the shape of a human female, though it was now almost twice the size of a normal IS. It was wielding a single long katana, though I knew that the blade itself was merely an extension of the machine's form.

"You two should retreat," I said, materializing a familiar sword for myself, "before it decides on who to attack."

"Wait, why are you calling her an 'it'? What's going on with Bodewig-san?"

"Her machine has activated a hidden program and taken over. Laura's still inside, but she's not controlling it."

The Valkyrie turned to the three of us, its massive profile moving like quicksilver as it adjusted its position. I advanced slightly myself, just to put my two friends behind me in case this thing was faster than I expected. My Structural Analysis revealed a few unpleasant things about this Valkyrie. First and foremost, it was putting an enormous strain on Laura's body and mind so I'd have to save her before this thing did her any permanent damage. Second, it was currently far stronger than it was a minute ago, and it was getting exponentially more powerful by the minute.

Without a sound the Valkyrie charged, swinging the massive katana in its hands with an overhand slash that would have split my head open if I hadn't barely deflected it, shattering my completely mundane sword in the process. I brought out a replica of the same sword without a moment's hesitation to meet the next attack, a follow through strike that would have cleaved me completely in half. Without the strength to match her, the Valkyrie tore through my sword like tissue paper and smashed straight into my stomach.

"Grgh." Damn, that knocked the wind out of me. I quickly brought up another sword, ready to keep deflecting the Valkyrie's assault, but it hadn't followed me. Charles had closed into melee with that thing-

"Charles, get out of there!"

I saw the surface of the Valkyrie ripple as the young man jammed his shield pierce into the thing's torso, but even that powerful weapon had almost no effect on the metal construct. The Valkyrie's arm lifted and fell, bringing the massive katana down onto Charles' shoulder and sending the boy crashing down to the ground. Before that thing could decide to follow up on its new target, I charged it while brandishing my pathetic sword to gain its attention.

"Shirou-san, why aren't the teachers doing anything? This is obviously abnormal!" Cecilia had flown down to the incapacitated Charles, voicing her complaints as she helped the young man back to his feet. He was holding his shoulder, so I guessed that the Valkyrie had blown completely through his shields in one hit. Just how powerful was this thing? Checking my own HUD, I was startled to realize that I only had a little more than a hundred shield energy left myself- a single attack from that thing had destroyed my sword and nearly finished me off.

To make matters worse, every second Laura remained trapped in there meant the chances of her receiving a permanent injury went up. Unless I got her out of there now, all four of us would be in serious danger of dying. But there was simply no way I could match that thing in my own IS, and there were millions of people watching this fight. Think, Shirou! You're supposed to save everyone, you can't falter here!

The Valkyrie was done patiently waiting around and swung its sword at me again, and although I was expecting it the thing had increased speed yet again. I barely shoved my sword up in time, sacrificing the blade so I could dodge that strike. Again and again the thing attacked, smashing my swords and shields to pieces with its ridiculously enhanced strength. This was just like fighting Berserker- no form, no technique, just overwhelming strength and speed that destroyed any defenses you could put up. It was only a matter of time before I missed one of my split-second parries and ended up being cut in half for real.

The Valkyrie surged in strength yet again, blasting through my latest blade faster than I expected and continuing its swing. I watched in slow motion as the massive katana swept down, tracing a brilliant line of scarlet down my chest and through my abdomen, shearing into the metal of my leg guard and trailing blood down the curve of its swing. It reversed its grip on the katana, preparing to finish me off for good.

With my next breath, I realized two things. First, Laura would kill people and then die if I didn't save her right now. The second, and much less important, was that the cut she just gave me wasn't fatal. It was deep, and I'd no doubt pay the price for it later, but it hadn't pierced my lungs or my heart so I could still fight without worrying about collapsing.

As the Valkyrie swung at me, I saw blue lances of energy strike into the giant machine, not even slowing it down as the gray samurai continued its assault. There was only one thing I could do in this situation. I couldn't show magic to the world but I couldn't rely on the abilities of my IS. I had to do something that no one could recognize as magic, yet would let me defeat this behemoth.

"_If you can't defeat it, imagine something that can."_

A slab of stone appeared in my hand, a jagged piece of rock with a large grip on one end. To call this thing a sword would have been laughable. It wasn't shaped like a sword, it couldn't cut like a sword, and above all it must have weighed hundreds of pounds. No swordsman in the world could wield something like this with anything approaching skill. Luckily, I wasn't a real swordsman. And my right hand would definitely reproduce the strength of the man who wielded this weapon before me.

My own sword crashed into the Valkyrie's katana, but this time my sword didn't break and my arm didn't waver. The Valkyrie, lacking any emotion, didn't show any surprise to this change of events and just slashed at me again, swinging that massive blade like it weighed nothing at all.

I smashed my own weapon into the giant sword, and against all odds checked the forward momentum of the much larger and stronger machine. I had no idea what people watching this would think, but I knew the reason why. I was Tracing the strength and speed of Berserker, the only being I could think of that could match the Valkyrie in terms of raw power. My axe-sword whipped out again and again of its own accord, smashing into and perfectly matching the Valkyrie every time it swung at me. My ears popped as giant thunderclaps greeted every swing, intense wind buffeted me each time the weapons crashed together, and my arm was burning, channeling far more strength than a mere mortal arm should hold even with an IS.

Blood was flying down my torso, and I knew that time was working against me. Even if I could match the Valkyrie in speed and strength, I had to rescue Laura from the inside of that thing before it killed her. I had already wasted too much time because of my inferior skills, so I needed to make up for that and focus on defeating that thing instead of merely matching it. Before the Valkyrie became even more powerful, before my own blood loss crippled me, before anything else came up to confuse the situation I had to beat this thing. I dug deeply into Senken's core, drawing the power I needed to Trace another weapon.

I was wielding Berserker's sword in one hand, mimicking the fighting style that the Servant had used himself. So while half of my body was fending off the Valkyrie's deadly attacks, the other half had nothing to do. I had never attempted to consciously perform actions while using Traced skills in a battle before, and I honestly had no idea what would happen if I tried, but I didn't have much of a choice at this point. I was running out of time.

I focused my will and formed an image of Laura's AIC in my mind, drawing energy from Senken's core to thrust the imaginary shield into reality. As it attached itself to my left arm, tendrils of power connected it to my IS' core and the ready light blinked on. Now it was only a matter of timing.

Quite frankly I couldn't hope to keep up with the blazing attacks made with my own right arm; Berserker's speed and strength were only things I could marvel at after they happened, not something that I could constantly keep track of. The axe-sword was moving on its own, identifying and intercepting the Valkyrie's swings before they could cleave me into pieces. If I tried to bring my other arm to bear in this fight I was as likely to chop it off as my opponent, but I no longer had a choice if I wanted to save everyone, and a single arm was a small price to pay if it meant saving Laura's life.

I shoved my left arm into the maelstrom of whirling blades, activating the AIC as the Valkyrie swept in to strike it off. The Valkyrie's movements instantly stopped, but something in the program must have identified the shield being used against it as the machine immediately reversed its momentum, attempting to swing back out of the field's range so it could continue to fight. But I was faster. My own sword traveled easily through the AIC, barely missing my left arm as it tore into the Valkyrie's metal neck with an intense screeching that reached even my own damaged ears and a shower of sparks that hampered my vision. Squinting my eyes to reduce the effects, I saw the Valkyrie's head fly off its shoulders, my A-rank strength easily able to sever the small band of metal with a single swing.

As the Valkyrie stumbled backward I launched four more attacks, breaking off its arms at the shoulders and rending both legs off for good measure. Finally, as the faltering system tried to keep itself operating, I disengaged my AIC and jammed my free hand straight into its torso, opening a path to retrieve Laura from inside this thing. Dropping Berserker's axe-sword, I pried open its chest with both of my hands, catching the tiny girl that tumbled out of it. Laura stared up at me with heavy eyes, but it was just simple exhaustion that was pulling her to sleep. Seeing her safe and sound, I don't know if I've ever been happier in my life. My eyes locked onto hers, and I couldn't help but smile.

"SHIROU-SAN! Answer me!"

Dimly I raised my head from Laura's prone form in my arms and saw a few dozen IS hovering around me, all of them piloted by teachers of the Academy or the older third-year girls. None of them were saying anything, and even the crowd in the arena's stands was completely silent, thousands of faces staring up at me in shock. This... might be trouble. No no, I hadn't used anything that the Magic Association would recognize as magic- I was the only person in the world who could use Tracing, only Tohsaka and Ilya even knew about it, and everything I did was visually similar to normal IS usage so nobody should be able to recognize that magic had been used.

"Grbl hrtslub."

There was a lot of blood in my mouth. Come to think of it, there was a lot of blood everywhere.

"You've been disqualified, Shirou-kun." Tatenashi hovered in front to me, speaking in a gentle voice like she was afraid loud noises might knock me over or something. "By overriding your IS' normal safety protocols and continuing the fight while your shields were disabled, you broke several tournament rules and got your team eliminated from the tournament. Why don't we take Bodewig to the nurse's office now?"

As she mentioned Laura's name, I looked back down to the girl. She was fast asleep, breathing lightly but steadily. Before I could respond, Cecilia had flown up next to me and even Charles had managed to get his IS back up, the two of them hovering on either side of me with matching expressions of horror.

"Shirou-san... my God, you're so hurt..."

"Emiya-senpai, we need to get to the infirmary _now._"

I tried to smile at my overprotective friends, but I'm not sure it worked since I couldn't actually feel any part of my body right now, even my face. "Don't worry," I managed to choke out, "This isn't the worst I've had." After being stabbed through the heart by Lancer, nearly split in half by Berserker, and cursed by all the evils in the world a wound like this wasn't something to be worried about. I don't think I successfully reassured them, judging by the looks they gave me.

Charles and Cecilia helped steady my flight as I brought Laura down to the arena's doors, and I realized I had been wrong about something. The arena crowd wasn't silent at all. My damaged ears couldn't pick up anything other than the sound coming from Senken's com-link, but the crowd had been roaring the entire time I was up in the air. I still couldn't pick anything up other than a dull cloud of sound coming from the general direction of the stands, but they were talking about something. I put that out of my mind. I still needed to make sure Laura was alright, after all.

As I entered the infirmary, nurses quickly took the sleeping girl from my arms and ordered me to disengage Senekn, which I did. It was always important to follow the instructions of medical professionals when in times of emergency. They even directed me to a nice bed that I could take a nap in, which was great because I was really tired at this point. I couldn't really hear what they were saying, but after a nice rest I'd be sure to listen to them.

*break

I awoke to the feeling of something soft brushing through my hair, but my body was surprisingly sluggish and didn't respond immediately to my commands. Another second of investigation revealed that I was actually strapped into something that was limiting my movements, and even with my eyes open I could only stare at the ceiling since my head wouldn't move, with something gentle yet inflexible holding my neck still. Before I could think about my current predicament, a face appeared in my range of vision.

"Ah- you're finally awake! How are you feeling?"

Huang, cheerful and energetic as ever, smiled down at me as she asked her question. To be honest, I couldn't feel much at all right now.

"I'm fine. More importantly, how's Laura?"

Huang took a moment to look at me in shock before bursting out into genuine laughter. She even doubled over, clutching her sides as she shook with mirth, laughing like she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. I was pretty serious, you know?

"Hah... hah... you're such an idiot," she finally got out, with only occasional fits of giggling. "You almost died and you're worried about the girl who was completely fine after a night of sleep?"

"A night of sleep... how long has it been?" I asked, not liking where this was going.

"You've been out for four days, but they said that was normal for someone who lost as much blood as you did. Actually, you recovered really fast."

I wouldn't consider a full four days of unconsciousness really fast, but I no longer had Avalon in my body to heal fatal wounds overnight. Probably a good thing, since I was still trying to conceal the existence of magic...

"Ah! What happened after the match?" I doubted anyone could have recognized my use of magic, but better safe than sorry.

"Hm? Well, you lost by disqualification and Charles was too injured to continue, so Houki and I won by default. Everyone was all up in arms about the VT system that was stuck in Laura's IS, but obviously no one could do anything about it since it happened in the Academy, and the German government basically said they had nothing to do with it. The teachers said that since the program was completely destroyed it was all a moot point anyway, so that's pretty much settled. Of course, people were freaking out about you too..."

Huang trailed off, as if unsure how to continue. I really needed to know, though.

"What are they saying about me?"

"Well... it's easier if I show you?" Huang pulled out a laptop of some sort and typed on it a bit. Eventually she held it up so I could see the screen. "This is a pretty typical thread on 2chan right now."

The first image was a picture of me right as the Valkyrie had cut straight down my torso, with the words 'Shields? Ima block your sword with my manly chest' written across the bottom. Right below that was a photo of me swinging Berserker's sword into the Valkyrie's neck, with the caption 'Bitch, I liked that shirt.' Every other image was equally bizarre, attributing phrases to me that I'd never say with images that were completely irrelevant. Was this... the internet? How did anyone understand this?

Huang brought her device back down, looking apologetically at me. "People were already interested in you before, and IS pilots usually stop when they're injured. Nobody's ever taken a wound like that and then fought _better_ afterward, so a lot of people are talking about you. They even nicknamed you 'The Bloody Prince' because of..." Huang coughed into her hand, then continued, "because of how you looked when you rescued Laura. I've got a picture of tha... I mean, I'm sure I can find a picture of that on the internet! Give me a second!"

Huang started fumbling with her laptop again, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't really understand what was going on but it seemed like nobody was questioning my abilities, which was good. I was absolutely positive that the Association wouldn't recognize my Tracing either, so it looked like I was safe for now.

"Here!" she yelled, showing me another picture on her laptop. It took me a second to recognize myself; I was covered in blood, to the point where it partially obscured my facial features, and I was smiling in a way that I'd never seen on myself. Laura was in my arms, looking back up at me with her red and golden eyes. The whole thing had a surreal quality to it, and a closer look revealed that you could actually see straight into the gaping wound in my chest to my split muscles and cracked ribs.

As I was puzzling over the picture, a stir of movement on the outside of my vision caught my attention. I couldn't turn to see what was going on, but Huang supplied that information to me right away.

"Oh, your family came here when they heard you were hurt. Matou-san and Ilya-chan are sleeping in a chair next to your bed, since they wouldn't leave your side... the rest of us tried to stay too but the teachers made us go to class and sleep and stuff, so we're taking turns watching over you. Do you want me to wake them up?"

I tried to shake my head before realizing how difficult that would be in my current position and settled for a more direct answer. "No, let them sleep. They're probably exhausted." I tried to shift positions to get a better view of them but was once again restrained by whatever contraption I was strapped into. "Why am I pinned down like this?" I asked, frustrated over my lack of mobility.

Huang's eyes widened a bit before she turned aside. "Um... you remember getting cut, right? There are hundreds of stitches and staples running down your body, and any movement might tear some out. So you're going to be restricted for a while..."

I grimaced at the thought. The last thing I needed right now was another near-miraculous medical recovery, but I also needed to get released from here before Ilya's ritual was slated to begin to avoid further complications in the plan to save her. Not like I had any choice though, I wasn't good enough with magic to affect how quickly or slowly I healed. Even worse, I had no idea when those psychopathic mages would attack again and being confined to the infirmary would really limit how much I could do to oppose them without making a huge ruckus.

"B-but don't worry! I'll be here every day to help you eat and use the bedpan and even s-sponge baths!" Huang's voice matched her increasingly reddening face, and I realized just what me being immobilized would entail. Oh no. Sakura and Ilya were here too, and I was apparently unconscious for days already... they didn't. They couldn't have. No, Sakura would definitely have done everything for me without complaining for a second, and I had no doubt Ilya joined in for the 'fun' parts like giving me a sponge bath...

I could feel the embarrassed flush of my cheeks as I imagined what those two had done while I was unable to defend myself. Would I really have to submit to that kind of thing while I was awake?

Lost in my own morbid thoughts I almost didn't hear the door open, but in a few seconds a doctor- incidentally the same one who treated me last time- approached my bed with a smile, purposefully coming into my limited field of view to talk with me.

"Ah, Emiya-kun, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Nothing hurts, but I don't like being unable to move. How soon can I get out of this?" I asked, giving the straps a little shake.

The doctor frowned at me. "Are you taking your injuries seriously? You may have a healthy body but you'll wreck yourself if you keep being reckless like this. I've seen too many IS pilots lose something important because they think they're invincible to keep silent about this."

I was pretty surprised a doctor would admonish his patient like that but it probably did seem like I had a death wish, showing up in his hospital twice during my first term here. Still, there were things that I had to risk my body for. I couldn't be a hero if I hid in a corner during emergencies.

"I'm sorry, doctor. I don't plan on being injured if I can help it. How long will it take before I'm released?"

He continued looking sternly at me, though it didn't look like he'd continue his lecture. "If it was anyone else, I'd say three months at least... but I'm guessing you'll be completely healed in two or three weeks. You'll only have to be strapped down while you're sleeping, to make sure you don't roll over and pull any stitches out, as long as you don't do anything even remotely strenuous."

Two or three weeks... even with my naturally high recovery speed, this IS hospital must be one of the best in the world to boast recovery times like that. Then again, every nation on Earth was extremely invested in every single pilot they sent here, so state of the art medical facilities were a given. I breathed a small sigh of relief upon hearing the good news.

The doctor turned to Huang and gave her another brief smile. "Well, I'll send in a few nurses to unstrap him, then leave him in your care. Make sure he doesn't twist his abdomen in any way, or bend at the waist, or walk without assistance, or..."

The doctor kept adding things I wasn't allowed to do, and despite the ever increasing list I felt pretty satisfied. Without classes or IS practice taking up my time I could actually produce many _more_ IS cores now than I would have been able to previously, and since I didn't produce any light or heat when I did I could just create them under my bed covers and store them without anyone the wiser. So I had successfully saved Laura and was well on my way to successfully saving Ilya. That was certainly worth a few annoying weeks cooped up in this room.

*chapter end

Okay, couple of things to point out. Yes, I made the Valkyrie Trace system _a lot_ more dangerous in this fanfic, mostly because the original was so dumb. It's supposedly banned by international treaty to develop or use, but it didn't actually do anything scary in canon- it only attacked things that were directly threatening it and was defeated by Ichika _outside_ of his powered armor, meaning it had the reaction speed of a normal human or less than that. Simply put, it was a joke. I wasn't going to include it at all, but my editor convinced me to and this is the result.

Second, that italicized quote is Shirou remembering what Archer told him before, not anyone in the scene actually saying anything. Sorry if anyone was confused by that, I wasn't sure how else to convey it.

Oops, forgot to mention- the reason why Shirou recognizes the Valkyrie Trace system is because he analyzes the machine, which lets him see the nanomachines taking over, and he read the IS book cover to cover so he remembers mention of systems like that being illegal.

Also- seems like putting an author's note in the story itself is a bad move, thanks for everyone who pointed that out. I'm a complete amateur when it comes to writing so advice like that is really constructive for me. To put the note in its proper place for later readers, Shirou can use the bathroom and shower just fine on his own so don't worry about that. And yes, Sakura and Ilya stripped him and gave him a sponge bath while Sakura helped him with the bedpan, though Shirou will _never_ ask about that so he'll never find out.


	12. Chapter 12

With a sigh I leaned back into my bed, palming the small IS core that was currently hiding out under my blankets. The little jewels recharged themselves in a little less than an hour when not hooked up to a functioning IS frame or any other draining device, so I had to keep them out in the open at some point after I Projected them to make sure they had energy. With all the effort I put into making each core they should have at least a couple of hours after charging before they disappeared, so I just had to hope that would be enough time to draw out their energy when they remained in the real world during the ritual.

It was nearing time for classes to get out in the Academy, and if my friends followed their usual pattern I'd have company in a few minutes. With an idle thought I stored my newest core in Senken's subspace, preserving it from the reality-enforcing rules that Gaia normally forced upon my magic. Being bedridden for the last week had one advantage at least; without the need to attend classes or pilot anything I managed to complete Projecting all the cores I'd need to save Ilya, and I was currently working on building up a reserve in case something went wrong or Tohsaka's estimates were too conservative.

Still, I was never good at sitting still. I itched to get up and move my body, exercising or fiddling with broken machines or cooking. Especially cooking. There was just no way I could maneuver around a kitchen with all the stitches running straight down my body, preventing me from indulging in my favorite hobby as I stayed in this lifeless hospital room. If I didn't have an important goal to reach while staying here I might have already gone crazy. Luckily, in another few days I'd be pronounced fit to move around a bit, allowing me some semblance of my life back.

The feminine sounds of giggling and chatting reached my ears before the door to my room opened, leaving me unsurprised when my friends entered a second later with snacks and a small pile of printouts from classes this morning. Fanning out, they took up their usual positions around the confined hospital room without breaking the flow of their conversation, relaxing with a comfortable ease of familiarity that spoke volumes about how much time we've spent in hospitals this year.

"Shirou-san, you missed an exciting day today! We had a mock battle against some of the teachers, and even though we lost I managed to take out one of the teachers myself!" Cecilia boasted, puffing out her chest in pride.

"Geh, you just got the last hit because you have so many lasers firing all the time! I'm the one who held her off for so long!" Huang complained, pulling a face at the blonde aristocrat. This was clearly an argument they had previously to entering my room, since Cecilia just huffed in reply.

"Haha, everyone did quite well," Charles started, gesturing with his hands to calm everyone down, "it was really our teamwork that allowed us to stand up to the teachers."

Nobody could really argue against him, though Laura obviously disagreed. Knowing her she had just picked out the strongest teacher to engage one-on-one and tried to ignore everyone else in the fight, though she probably lasted far longer than any of the other students would have in that situation.

"Sounds like you had fun. Are you all alright?" I asked, though it didn't seem like any of them were hurt. Still, IS fights were pretty dangerous.

"...you're the only one who ever gets hurt, Shirou."

Houki had a point. I don't think anyone else in the entire Academy wound up in the emergency ward this semester aside from me, and there were only a few minor injuries that required hospital care at all during the year. Then again, none of the other students had to fight off two berserking machines either.

"Really, Shirou-san! If you stopped being so reckless all the time you'd be able to have a normal school life with us," Cecilia pouted, acting as if zooming around in laser-equipped deathtraps at supersonic speeds was in any way normal.

I shrugged, the tightness in my chest a reminder of the limited movement I was capable of at the moment, not really concerned about my lack of IS education. My current goal of saving Ilya notwithstanding, IS really had no place in the life I wanted to live, and neither did my regular school education for that matter. I wasn't really concerned about missing either of them.

"...that is something I'd like to ask, Emiya," Laura started, for once not looking entirely confident. "Why did you try so hard to save me? Why did you not retreat when you were injured?"

Oh, right. Laura didn't know about my ideals yet, so she didn't know just how deeply I believed in the necessity of saving everybody I could.

"Don't read too deeply into it!" Huang started, "He'd do that for anyone, not just you. He's a hero."

I immediately felt my face heating up at the compliment- that was probably the first time anyone had called me a hero in a normal conversation. Honestly I wasn't sure how to react to it, so I sat in embarrassed silence, contemplating the little pilot's statement. Had I really proven myself to be a hero already? I certainly saved Huang from that rampaging unmanned IS and Laura from the VT system that took control of her body and machine, but for some reason those actions never really seemed real to me. The whole IS thing in general felt like a page out of science fiction, and my life currently seemed like a never ending series of odd occurrences at this futuristic Academy, but I really should consider what I'm doing here. Maybe this whole trip to the the Academy was a blessing in disguise.

"That seems foolish. Why would you risk yourself for just anyone? Casualties are a given in conflict, so saving your strength to use it effectively later on is the basis of combat," Laura stated, looking at me.

Ah, so much for my warm and fuzzy feeling. "Yes, I know that. Sab-" I caught myself before continuing, "people have tried to tell me not to put myself in danger before. But the ideal that I strive for won't let me sit back and let other people get hurt in my stead, so there's nothing I can do about it."

Laura sat in silence for a few seconds, studying my face intently. "I see," she said, apparently out of questions.

"Ahem," Cecilia began, drawing everyone's attention to herself. "All this aside, I believe there was an announcement to be made?" she asked, looking over at Charles. The young man was looking down at the floor, biting his lip with an unreadable expression on his face. That was certainly unusual.

"Um... yes. There's something I have to tell everyone. As most of you know, I'm actually a girl. My real name is Charlotte. I was sent here by my father to get close to the only known male IS pilot in order to steal the technical data of his machine and figure out how he was able to pilot it."

Charles was looking firmly at the ground, while all the girls in the room were casting sympathetic glances his way. I didn't blame them. The poor kid must be so shaken up by something that he completely lost his ability to make sense.

"Okay, I think you're a bit confused here, Charles." The young man looked up at me in surprise, but I continued on in the hope that this would set him straight. "You're not a girl. Look, you're even wearing a guy's uniform, and you've been changing in the guy's locker room this whole year."

Everyone sat in stunned silence, apparently just as confused as I was at Charles' odd assertion of being a girl. Laura was the only person who seemed unaffected by this whole exchange, though she rarely got caught up in conversations we had anyway.

"No, Emiya-senpai... I really am a girl."

I didn't know how he got such a strange notion in his head, and I was completely dumbfounded by his conviction to the idea. Maybe he just wanted to fit in with his classmates or something?

"Okay, so you're a 'girl'," I said, making little finger quotes to show how likely I thought that idea to be, "why did you only discover that recently?"

He looked at me like I was crazy, but _he_ was the one not making sense here. "I've always been a girl, Emiya-senpai. I pretended to be a boy in order to get close to you to steal your operation data, which I did when we were in the workshop together. Actually, let's focus on that for a second- you do realize that I'm going to go to jail for theft of national secrets, right?"

I shook my head, getting even more confused. "I gave that data to you so you could help me fix Senken's targeting. You can't steal something that I already _gave_ you." I resisted the urge to add a "duh" on the end of that sentence only because of how mixed up Charles seemed to be right now.

"Bu-but I spent half a year trying to steal that- I dressed like a guy every day and even changed in the same room as you-"

The poor guy obviously needed some rest. I mean, it wasn't much of a surprise after being forced into this highly competitive atmosphere that the gentle boy would get his head all turned around, trying to become like everyone else in the school in an effort to fit in and give himself some peace of mind. And after blacking out in the workshop a while ago he seemed to be constantly on edge about something, most likely due to the shock his system took when exposed to such malicious magic, and seeing his roommate in the hospital with terrible wounds must have been the last straw.

I gently placed my hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze to calm him down. "You should get some rest, Charles. I'll ask the Academy to give you a couple days without any IS practice so you can catch your breath, so just focus on yourself for a little while."

He looked at me with the saddest puppydog eyes I've seen yet, which is saying something after living with Ilya for a while. "But I really am a girl," he said, though the fight had mostly left him. I knew how tough it was to be a male pilot, but I didn't think it was good for the young man to try and escape from reality like that.

"Shirou, you're kind of an idiot," Houki said. Turning to Charles, she asked an odd question. "Now that you've already gained his data, what do you plan on doing?"

Charles gathered himself up a bit, though he was still clearly pouting. "The Dunois engineers couldn't figure out why Emiya-senpai can fly an IS; by all accounts the machine should be completely incompatible with him, but it works anyway, almost like it's functioning without a pilot at all. Father wants me to stay here and try to learn more, but... now that you know what I really am, if you don't want me here anymore I'll understand."

I suppressed a sigh. First Laura came here to study me, and now Charles... come to think of it, Cecilia and Huang might be getting pressured by their own governments to find out how I operate an IS as well. Not that it really mattered, since I doubted they'd ever find out unless I told them directly. Most people believe magic to be the stuff of fairy tales and legends these days, so they'd come up with every possible answer before resorting to wondering about magic.

"I don't mind at all, Charles," I said, hearing him mutter 'Charlotte' under his breath, "it doesn't matter how you got here. You're welcome to stay because you're a friend now." Also, you're amazing at getting the girls here to calm down when they start fighting, and you've saved my neck more than once after I said something dumb to these volatile girls, so there is nobody I'd like to keep by my side more than you. I briefly wondered if I could take him home and use him against Tohsaka the next time she started lecturing me about something.

All four of the girls nodded in agreement, even Laura who was actually reading the mood for once. Charles slumped in visible relief, smiling back up at me with his signature radiance. "Even if you're an idiot, you're a really great guy, Emiya-senpai."

Hey. Was that supposed to be a compliment?

"Ah, whatever!" Huang yelled, apparently at the end of her patience. "So that's settled. Emiya-san is too dumb to see that you're a girl, you're not in trouble for taking his data because he gave it to you, and everything's just peachy. Are we supposed to call you Charlotte now or what?"

Charles looked a little embarrassed, and shook his head. "I should keep pretending to be a boy in order to keep my cover. Just keep calling me Charles for now." Well, at least the kid decided to see sense after all, even if he was still being weird about it.

A thought tickled in the back of my mind, and I realized a question that I should have asked earlier. "Hey Laura, how did you compete in the match against the teachers? I thought your Schwarzer Regen was completely wrecked." By me, obviously.

Laura turned her attention to me, unconcerned with the abrupt change in direction our conversation had taken. "The core was undamaged, as was the AIC unit, so my superiors shipped me enough replacement parts to reassemble it here. The Academy's engineers were adequate enough to put it back together."

Well that was awfully convenient. What were the odds that the German government just happened to have enough spare parts on hand to almost entirely reassemble their prototype, one-of-a-kind third generation machine? Considering that same government claimed they had nothing to do with the illegal Valkyrie Program that converted most of her machine into an unrecoverable lump of nanomachine-controlled metal, that was more than a bit suspicious. I'd have to look into that a bit more when I became mobile again.

The conversation, sans Charles who was still moping, turned back to the exciting match against the teachers they had earlier today, with everyone contributing their opinion of the outcome. It was generally agreed that the teachers were amazing, using the old school IS and significantly out-flying the students in their new third generation models. I was secretly glad I was able to miss out on the experience by being in the hospital, not that I would have told them that.

"Shirou, your IS is going off." With Houki's words I looked down to see Senken flashing an alert, informing me that someone sent me a text message on the machine's secure line. That was odd. Communications directly to an IS were only supposed to be used during times of emergency, or by someone with a lot of authority like a Head of State. I tapped the message with my finger and the holographic writing popped up. **Stay there.** The sender was... Chifuyu-nee? Damn.

"Oh my. It looks like Orimura-sensei has returned," Cecilia said, giving me a knowing smile. "She must be very excited to talk to you, sending a message like that." I groaned and buried my face in my hands, not looking forward to seeing her at all. 'Stay there?' Did she think I was going to run out of the hospital as soon as I caught wind of her returning to the Academy? Looking out the window, I saw that the weather was clear and it was only a two story drop to the ground, so maybe running was still a valid option.

Even Charles gave me a vindictive smile, his earlier frustrations with me apparent with his reaction to my impending doom. Chifuyu-nee must have heard about the Valkyrie incident and decided I needed a good yelling at/interrogation as soon as she could manage it. By why bother telling me to stay where I was? I couldn't move, and she always tried to ambush me when I wasn't expecting her. Giving me notification that she was arriving just let me build up my defenses.

"Don't worry, Emiya. I'll make sure the Instructor knows you saved me." My mouth opened in shock as the stubborn girl not only promised to help me out of her own good will but actually _admitted_ that she had needed to be saved. That was a lot of progress for a girl who threw a knife at my head when she was upset.

"She's right, Emiya-san. We're all here for you. You didn't do anything wrong, so we won't let her boss you around like usual!" Huang carefully refrained from explaining why they never bothered to help me before during Chifuyu-nee's interrogations.

Well, nothing to it. I reviewed the whole event in my mind, but there really wasn't anything I could do about the situation without knowing exactly what Chifuyu-nee had on me. I knew that I gained unnatural strength when I Traced the axe-sword I used against the Valkyrie, but I had no way of knowing if the sensors hooked up to my machine could register that kind of thing. It's not like my actual muscles multiplied or anything, so I doubted there was any concrete evidence that my strength actually increased, but there was certainly video evidence of the end result. If nothing else I could just lie and say I had no idea what was going on because I was in shock at the time.

We spent the next few minutes preparing for the upcoming encounter with the implacable teacher, though I didn't know what was running through the heads of all my companions. I'd rather they not even be here for the conversation, but I knew they'd all insist on trying to help me so I didn't bother suggesting they leave.

I could hear her before I saw her, the precise steps of a woman constantly in control of her movements echoing down the hallway before she roughly threw the door open. "Emiya! You-" She seemed to take in the presence of all my classmates for the first time, cutting herself off to sweep her angry gaze over everyone in the room. "Everyone else out. I need to talk to Emiya."

"Pardon us, Professor, but it's still visiting hours and we-"

"OUT!" she roared, surprising me with her loss of control. Despite all the harsh things she's said I'd never seen her lose her temper and yell at a student, further convincing me that something unusual was going on.

All of the students seemed to wilt under the gaze of the furious teacher but none of them made any effort to stand up or leave the room, not willing to back down on their earlier declarations of support. I winced as I shifted my posture, drawing her focus back to me as I turned directly toward her.

"Perhaps we should get some tea and calm down?" Whatever was happening looked pretty serious, but since she hadn't explained anything over our secure IS line I assumed it wasn't an emergency.

Chifuyu-nee struggled to regain control of her anger, and attempted to calmly walk toward me. It looked like she was approaching me in order to strangle me, but I could tell that she was at least trying to suppress that urge. She stood over my bed, between me and all my fellow students, and mouthed some words without actually voicing them. The first time I missed what she said, but then I caught on to what she was trying to do and paid attention the second time around.

'I'm being followed. Get everyone else out.'

What? That didn't make sense. Did I understand her correctly? Nobody could follow a teacher into the Academy unless they were allowed in here in the first place, and if that was the case she'd have no need to get the students out of here. It wasn't likely to be a trick though, so I decided to take her at face value and try to convince my friends to leave. Whatever was going on would hopefully be made clear with the discussion we were about to have, so no use fighting her over it.

"Ah, damn. You ran into a room full of kids? I hate killing kids."

A stifling silence engulfed the whole room, as everyone turned to see just who had made that unacceptable remark. Standing in the doorway was a familiar man wearing blue armor and wielding a bloodred spear as tall as he was. He projected an aura of complete confidence, despite the bored expression on his face, and even with his spear lowered in a relaxed position I knew it could kill us all in a heartbeat. That was because he wasn't a man at all, but a high class spiritual entity- a heroic spirit. Ireland's child of light, the great warrior Cu Chulainn. The Lancer who killed me twice.

There was absolutely no way Lancer could be here. He died fighting Gilgamesh, and besides, the Holy Grail War was long over. He shouldn't even be able to maintain his immensely powerful spiritual form without a gigantic source of prana, and the only time I've ever seen a heroic spirit summoned was with an artifact as powerful as the Grail.

Chifuyu-nee whirled to face him, a cold look descending on her sharp features. "You're not authorized to be here. Leave." She said that in a voice that promised immediate violence if she wasn't obeyed, but I knew better. She was a warrior, so she should feel how much more powerful her opponent was.

"Heh. You're a great woman. It's too bad I have to kill you." He dropped into a stance, bringing the tip of his demonic spear up to point at his victim. "I tried to let you run away, but you went to a bunch of kids instead. Sorry, but I can't give you any more leniency." Just like with me during the start of the Grail War, he intended to kill her with a single thrust to the heart, granting her the mercy of an instant death. I realized why Chifuyu-nee came to me now, and I fully intended to answer her request for help.

"Cu Chulainn, hero of Ireland, wielder of the cursed spear Gae Bolg," I started, instantly drawing the man's attention. I stripped off my shirt, revealing the sunburst scar on my chest over my heart. "The first time we met you gave me this," I said, jabbing at the old wound, "and the second time we met you gave me this," I continued, showing him the scar on my forearm. "The very last time we met you stabbed me again," I said, pointing to a much smaller scar in my chest, "and yet I'm still alive. What does that tell you?"

If there was anything Lancer had wanted during the War it would have been battles with opponents equal to his skill. I had just called him out by saying I had survived not one but three fights with him, effectively putting myself on the same level as his greatest foes in life. Not to mention that my chest wounds should both have been fatal due to Gae Bolg's curse, so my ability to survive them was superhuman.

"Shirou, what's going on?" Of course, no one else in the room understood the significance of the sudden arrival of a hero out of legend. Chifuyu-nee must have understood that she couldn't fight him and came to me for help, but all the other kids here probably couldn't tell how impossibly strong this man was. He claimed to be required to kill us- is he under the effects of something like a command seal? He said he 'tried to let her escape,' meaning the control over him wasn't as complete as an actual seal, but it was apparently enough to make him eventually fulfill his orders.

Lancer grinned at me, changing the focus of his spear ever so slightly so it lined up with my heart instead of my teacher's. "You've got guts, but you're unarmed and injured. How are you planning to fight?" I could tell that he was still taking me lightly, probably because I didn't radiate power the same way a heroic spirit or even a decent magus would. That would change quickly.

"Trace on."

I couldn't activate Senken in this crowded room without crushing the girls around me into the walls, so I was stuck fighting as just a magus. Until I could get him through the window and onto the school grounds.

The pitch-black sword I imaged appeared in my hands, the familiar weight settling in comfortably against the callouses my hands developed after countless hours of practice. I shifted my stance, bringing the hand and a half bastard sword into a two-handed grip, keeping my shoulders loose and my balance fluid. It was the stance of a man much stronger than me. I carried myself like the hero of legend who slew giants, monsters and dragons, the original wielder of the Noble Phantasm Hrunting; the King Beowulf.

Hrunting, the Hound of the Red Plains, was a perfect match against the Hound of Chulainn. More importantly it let me Trace the skills of Beowulf, a man strong enough to tear the arm off a giant with his bare hands and slay a dragon with his dagger.

Lancer noticed the change in my body language instantly. "Oh... looks like you're pretty serious. Good! What's your name, kid?"

"Emiya Shirou."

There was nothing more to be said, so silence once again stretched between us as we readied ourselves for a fight to the death. I held myself ready for the lightening-quick thrust I was certain would come racing to my heart the instant Lancer began the fight, my barely healed body screaming under the strain of keeping my chest from splitting in two from just my own tense muscles.

"My name is Cecilia Alcott, Mr. Chulainn. And I'd advise you to drop your weapon." The blonde was pointing her IS' rifle at the heroic spirit, her partially deployed armor only covering her hands and arms to give her the strength to aim the gigantic firearm.

"Laura Bodewig." The German girl had both of her arms deployed as well, with one carrying her AIC and the other holding one of her melee weapons.

"Huang Lingyin. Are you prepared to make all of China your enemy?" The small girl had both her arms deployed, though even without any weapons those claws alone could shred people to bits.

"Charles Dunois. I think it would be a good idea for you to surrender now." He had managed to pull out a relatively small machine gun in each of his armored hands, aimed squarely at Lancer's chest.

"Hahahaha! I thought this would be boring, but it looks like I'll have some fun after all. I have to warn you though, bullets won't hurt me much. They shouldn't affect me at all, really, but those damn half-baked mages couldn't even summon me correctly." Even while laughing and complaining, the bloodlust from Lancer didn't let up an inch. He was fully prepared to kill the first person who moved.

So naturally I moved first.

-o-0-o-

**Author's notes**- some people have been questioning Shirou's ability to Trace weapons in the way I've described so I'll clarify exactly what his power is. Our hero doesn't discover exactly how his power works in every route, but it functions the same regardless of how it's portrayed, since he usually only figures out a part of what he can do and not the whole. So yes, his ability is the same in every route, he just uses it differently. What he does is *perfectly* understand and reproduce the entire history of a sword, meaning every swing it's ever taken, every technique it's ever used, the strength with which it is swung, the skill of its user, every single thing about that sword is recorded in Shirou's memory. He then Traces the blade, copying everything about it perfectly. Since he Traced the skill in which the blade was wielded he can react to and block things faster than he can perceive. He can swing the sword with more strength than his own body can produce because it is the sword that is swinging with that force.

For proof we can look at any route of the game. In Fate route Shirou creates Caliburn to fight Berserker with, and the sword "moves on its own" according to Shirou as it blocks a blow from Berserker, whose A+ strength should instantly knock the sword aside and cleave him in half but doesn't because Shirou blocks the blow with Saber's strength. In UBW he creates his reality marble and fights Gilgamesh inside, and even though Gil isn't the physically strongest of the Servants he still has a B rank strength, something no human could ever match. The only way Shirou could physically overpower him in a swordfight is if he Traced the strength of the wielders of the swords he was using. And lastly, the Heaven's Feel route, in which Shirou understands more of his ability. When fighting Berserker he Traces the guy's axe-sword, and not only does he outright state "My left arm will definitely reproduce his strength," he also uses Nine Lives, a skill that Shirou doesn't even have the ability or knowledge to perform. He can only use it because Berserker's sword remembers using it. So I hope that clears things up for everyone.

Also, I'm aware that normal people can't usually see spirits and mundane weapons normally can't injure a heroic spirit, but there's a legit reason. You'll just have to read the next chapter to find out.

Also also I'm replacing the breaks in my story with the nifty symbol you should see right above the notes, to make it more visibly apparent.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N This chapter is being told from Charlotte's perspective for reasons that will soon become apparent.

-Charlotte-

Okay. Let's list off everything I know about Emiya Shirou and try to go from there. One, he's a fantastic chef who genuinely enjoys cooking for other people and is quite used to holding large meals for his friends. Two, he's extremely diligent in life, at least for the things he considers important like his physical conditioning or the well being of others. Third, he's immensely stubborn when confronted with ideas or opinions that contradict his own world view.

...No, none of that explains why he's currently fighting an insane Irishman to the death in his hospital room.

Calling it a _fight_ might be a stretch, though. It was more like a whirlwind of sharp edges and destroyed swords that contained two people in the center who were trying very hard to make the other person dead. I wasn't even sure how the Irishman was manipulating that long spear around this cramped and crowded room, but despite the impossibility of such an act he made it look easy.

It lasted about ten seconds. The end came so abruptly that I didn't even have time to register it before Shirou slumped to the ground, covered in his own blood, a great big hole in the center of his chest.

"Too bad... had you been able to give ground without fear of the girlies getting skewered you might have been able to match me for a while, but this was simply a bad battleground for you." That was it. That was all he said before lifting the bloodied spear once again, preparing to drive it straight into Shirou's heart.

I can't breathe.

That spear- dripping with Shirou's blood, raising over his prone body like harbinger of death, tainting the very air around it with its foul presence. I won't let it kill him. I won't. You better put that spear down _right now or so help me God I will walk over there and rip it out of your hands you son of a bitch don't you dare hurt Shirou you monster get away from him I won't let you-_

I realize I'm screaming. My hands are trembling.

The spear doesn't stop.

I fire. Somewhere in the back of my mind I question what I'm doing, firing a machine gun at a human being that doesn't have shields to protect him, but that thought stays buried under an avalanche of rage and desperation. Apparently I wasn't the only one who fired, either, since I see one of Cecilia's blue bolts streak towards my target as well with enough destructive power to slice him in half.

With a rather extravagant twirl of his spear, Cu Chulainn blocked my continuous stream of bullets and simply bated the laser beam off to the side, seemingly unconcerned with his ability to do the impossible. Even as he defended himself without any apparent effort, however, he lost the opportunity to finish Shirou off, and I dimly heard Orimura-sensei yelling orders in the background.

"Alcott, Dunois, keep firing, Bodewig secure Emiya, Huang blow out the wall behind us," she issued in a rapid-fire pace that had everyone scrambling for action. Laura darted forward, heedless of the shots being fired at a person not two feet away from her, and brought her AIC up in between Shirou and his attacker. With her other hand she dropped her weapon and seized the unconscious boy, hauling him back to our group even as that accursed spear flew towards her neck, stopping at the invisible field that repelled all forward motion.

"Dunois, Alcott, firing retreat!"

I glanced behind me; everyone aside from Cecilia, Laura and Shirou were outside, with Rin gently but quickly bringing the noncombatants to the ground in her fully deployed IS. Cecilia jumped backwards through the window, firing her rifle and deploying her IS simultaneously, and I leaped out a second behind her. Cu Chulainn- if that was his real name- was frowning, trying to stab his spear through Laura's AIC field and absently knocking bullets and lasers alike right out of the air.

Laura herself cleared the window right after me, holding Shirou's bleeding body in one arm while maintaining her shield in the other, shooting past the rest of us to keep that madman from finishing our senpai off. Houki and Orimura-sensei, the only ones of us on foot, dashed out of the way while the rest of us trained our weapons on the enemy.

He looked mildly annoyed.

"Look, the more you resist the more painful this will be," he said, giving us a weary sigh. _Seriously?_ He just walks up, tries to kill us and then gets annoyed when we don't roll over and die?

"Let's see you block THIS!" Rin fired her Dragon Cannons at full power, the twin balls of compressed air slamming into the man's defenses and knocking him a few feet back.

"Hm... not a bad weapon you've got there. But if that's your limit, you really should give up now." He lightly jumped down from the ruined hospital room and landed lightly on his feet, despite having dropped three floors without anything to slow his fall.

It was almost hilarious. After everything the monster did it was _this _that convinced me he wasn't human? The more I thought about what was happening, the more that conclusion seemed inevitable. This Cu Chulainn didn't have any sort of power armor on according to my Rafael Revive and yet he was faster and stronger than any human being could possibly be. He even said bullets would barely hurt him... _and that he was summoned by mages._

"Cu Chulainn... um, why exactly are you trying to kill us? What were you summoned to do, specifically?" I wasn't sure why I asked, other than that it suddenly popped into my mind and I wasn't as in control of myself as I normally am.

He looked surprised for a second, then shook his head ruefully. "Nothing personal, girlie. Your teacher poked her nose where she shouldn't have and angered the wrong people, and then ran back to you when I was chasing her. Can't leave witnesses, so you've got to die too."

For an assassin he sure looked uncomfortable with the thought of killing us, but that wasn't much of a consolation in the grand scheme of things. Maybe I could use that?

Before I could even try, he apparently decided he was done with conversation. I didn't even have time to open my mouth before he slammed his spear into my chest, closing the distance between us faster than I could even react to and striking in a single motion. The scenery flew by as I was thrown back by the force, and I noted with some concern that almost a third of my shield energy was already gone after that one hit.

By the time I recovered the fight was already in full swing. Laura and Rin were attempting to engage the spearman in close combat with Cecilia providing long range support, but it was clear from their rapidly dwindling shield energies that they were losing. I brought out a heavy rifle myself and fired a few shots at him, but I didn't really expect anything to connect after his skillful displays earlier on.

"Bodewig! Huang! Get out of the way!"

I looked up to the direction of Orimura-sensei's voice and saw at least two dozen third year students in full armor as well as the teacher herself, all pointing heavy ordinance at the solitary lancer in the courtyard. He looked up and grinned at them.

"Ha! I knew you were my kind of woman," he said, as if he wasn't staring certain death in the face. Though he might have even more up his sleeve than he had shown already, so maybe he wasn't in a desperate situation at all.

"Drop your weapon and surrender, or we will fire."

His only response was a grin as he readied his spear, though how he intended to attack flying opponents with it was anyone's guess.

"You have three seconds."

**High energy alert. **Rafael Revive was blinking with a warning- whatever that Irishman was doing was pulling in the kind of energy that an IS normally operated at. I checked to make sure Shirou was still safe and saw Houki carrying him off in an Uchigane, so I refocused back on the battle in front of me.

"Two."

"Haha, I like you."

"One."

"Next time we meet, I'm taking you out for drinks."

"FIRE!"

Heavy machine guns, missiles, lasers, grenades, and even more esoteric projectiles launched simultaneously from all the IS gathered here into one massive barrage aimed squarely at Cu Chulainn. At the same time he unleashed his counter-attack.

"Gae Bolg!"

He whipped his spear forward so quickly I barely even registered the red streak flying from his hands toward the oncoming bombardment, but the two forces met in mid air with an unmistakable thunder.

The explosion blinded and deafened me. I stopped firing immediately because I couldn't even see where I was aiming and was liable to hit some friendlies, there being so many more of us than there were of him. My vision returned first.

Cu Chulainn was gone; Orimura-sensei was issuing orders to all of the third years to secure the perimeter and set up patrols, but it was obvious from her body language that she didn't think he was still here. Not like that would keep her from being as cautious as she possible could in this situation. I mean, who ever heard of someone matching an IS with his own body? Granted, he had taken Shirou down when-

Oh my God, Shirou. Was he okay? No, don't be ridiculous, Shirou's survived wounds just as bad as that before, he's amazingly tough. Besides, he said that Cu Chulainn already stabbed him through the heart once-

Oh my God. Shirou is one of them, isn't he? Everything makes sense now. The constant training, the untraceable childhood, the mysterious weapons, the fight with the Valkyrie, the fact that he can pilot an IS as a male... he's one of them.

"Huang, Shinonono, Bodewig, Alcott, Dunois. Report for emergency briefing immediately."

-o-0-o-

There were seven of us around the table including Orimura-sensei and the student council president Sarashiki Tatenashi, all wearing identical grim expressions. Under normal circumstances it would have been amusing the see the ever cheerful Rin and the casually smiling Tatenashi looking so serious, but I had a much more pressing issue to worry about.

"So not only is magic real, the practitioners of the craft tend to kill anyone who finds out about it, if we can take Shirou-kun's words and the actions of Cu Chulainn at face value. Which means everyone here is their target," Tatenashi said, scanning her eyes around the table. "Frankly, if they can overwhelm six personal IS holders at the same time with a single soldier then I'm not sure we have the ability to fight them."

Rin frowned at her. "We can just tell the whole world about them. There's enough footage of the fight to convince people."

Orimura-sensei shook her head at the diminutive girl. "Not a good idea. We have no idea what kind of power they have so provoking them into an all or nothing fight is the worst possible course of action."

Silence once again descended on our despondent little group. We're supposed to be the pinnacle of military power and we're sitting around like scared little girls?

"Why don't we just wake Emiya-senpai and ask him? The doctors should have stabilized him by now and he's the only person who can advance this conversation any further."

All the girls perked up at the thought of seeing Shirou again, but the two older women looked even more stone-faced than before.

"Emiya isn't responding to treatment. The doctors are giving him another half hour."

I understood the words she said, and they should have made sense, but I couldn't process what she was saying. Looking across the table I found I wasn't the only one. Rin had her mouth hanging open in shock, Cecilia was starting to hyperventilate, Houki was mumbling something under her breath with unfocused eyes, and Laura...

Laura was sad. Like she had accepted Shirou's death but was upset about it.

Tears sprang up in my eyes, unbidden and unwelcome, but there wasn't much I could do about them. Shirou was going to _die _and I couldn't even see him. After everything he did for the people around him, we were just going to sit back and let him die all alone in a hospital room?

"Chifuyu... you can't be serious," Rin choked out, on the verge of breaking down herself. Her protest was mirrored by the rest of us as we looked at our teacher with watering eyes, begging her to tell us better news about our friend. About the kind boy who had touched all of our lives and asked us nothing in return.

"We are doing everything we can," she said, but even her mask cracked a bit. The pain that flashed across her face for a split second told us everything we needed to know. There would be no saving Emiya Shirou.

Someone started to cry, but my own eyes were so filled with tears that I couldn't see who it was.

"ILYA!"

My head snapped up as Houki jumped out of her chair and yelled a name I barely recalled hearing at some point. The normally quiet girl rounded on Cecilia and grabbed the sobbing girl by the shoulders, excitedly yelling right in her face.

"Remember what that girl Ilya said before when Shirou's family came to see him, after he was injured during the unmanned drone incident? 'You idiots can't even heal anyone properly.' She has to be one of them! If Shirou is hurt because of a magician, he should be able to be healed by one too!"

That was a stretch... but then again, if Shirou knew magic then it wouldn't be wrong to assume that the people living in his household knew of magic as well. And if magic was powerful enough to match several IS in a straight up fight, then surely there was magic capable of healing as well, right?

Cecilia was heartened by this news, and dried her tears. "That's right. Didn't Shirou-san say he had fought this man before? Someone must have healed him afterward- he doesn't seem capable of fighting without nearly killing himself- so his family would be a good place to start."

Orimura-sensei looked thoughtful, then blossomed into a full smile. "Suddenly an old conversation makes a whole lot more sense," she said, her smile turning feral. "Don't worry students, I think Shirou will be just fine."

If anything, her evil grin assured me even more than her words. If there was _anything_ I knew about the straight-laced and serious teacher, it was that she loved to torment Shirou more than anything else. If she was already planning her retribution, I could rest assured that he would recover.

And I was going to _kill him_ when he woke up.

-o-0-o-

**Author's note**- Obviously it's a short chapter, but I've gone so long without an update that I figured readers would want a short something instead of more nothing. Not really much to discuss this chapter- Shirou went down quickly because he was trying to cover a bunch of different people while fighting the Goddamn Lancer (not a good idea), and if you're curious the conversation Chifuyu is remembering is the one in chapter 5 between the Fate/Stay Night crew (she was listening in with Senken).

As for last chapter I was frankly amazed with the number of people calling Shirou an idiot. That wasn't my intention at all. I mean, if you lived with a boy, showered next to him, changed with him in the same room, and out of nowhere one day he tells you he's a girl while offering exactly zero proof and then saying he's a spy on top of that, would you just nod your head and say 'okay that makes sense'? Or would you have a healthy dose of skepticism for his claims? Just because we know Charlotte is a girl doesn't mean it's obvious to the other characters. And, as we all know, Shirou tends to dig in his heels whenever he thinks he's right in an argument, so unless Charlotte offers him some definite proof he's not going to believe her after she failed to convince him once.


End file.
